


The Blood of The Crown

by HobbitWrangler



Series: The Crown [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: AU-The Crown, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Historical, Betrayal, Blood and Injury, Drama, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Smut, M/M, Other, Politics, Romance, Shameless Smut, The Crown, The Star Wars Galaxy is all in one planet, Violence, War, Who is Elizabeth and who is Philip? who knows, and a little love snuck inbetween the cracks, things are about to go down
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-16
Updated: 2018-01-19
Packaged: 2019-02-15 17:34:00
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 23,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13036035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HobbitWrangler/pseuds/HobbitWrangler
Summary: Kylo Ren has returned from isolation. Snoke and his followers are growing stronger. The Crown fights for balance. Meave is stuck in the middle of it all, wondering just who her husband has become.(Continuation of my One-Shot entitled "The Crown"-- not necessary to read before but you will lose out on some background knowledge)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi Guys, so this is a continuation of my One-Shot entitled "The Crown." And it was supposed to stay that way, even though I wrote this chapter (or parts of it) months ago. Then, The Crown Season 2 arrived, and well, I found myself wanting more and more to continue Maeve and Kylo's story. Now with more draaaamaaaaaa. Anyway, if you would like to read the one shot to figure out the "back story" for these two characters, please do so. It is linked on my account. Anyway, please enjoy and let me know what you think is going to happen next :)

**Background Information for those who didn’t read “The Crown” one shot:**

_Leia Organa is Queen of Alderaan and it’s Commonwealth after defeating the Empire and her father, Darth Vader. This story takes place over 20 years after the fall of the Empire. Leia’s Only son, Ben Organa (now Kylo Ren) has just returned after disappearing for 8 months in the highlands of Alderaan._

_During his time away from his family, Kylo was staying with Armitage Hux and his Uncle, Lord Snoke. Hux and Kylo’s relationship is strained, at best. Hux is also from Maeve’s homeland, Maridun. He is a loyalist and believes Maridun should be part of Alderaan’s commonwealth even though Maridun just gained its independence._

_Kylo is married to Maeve, the daughter of a family friend who helped Leia and Luke defeat The Empire. Together they have a pair of twin daughters, Padme and Anne. Maeve has not totally forgiven Kylo for disappearing on her, and to make matters worse Hux has followed Kylo back to the capital. The story follows directly after the events of “The Crown.”_

* * *

 

Maeve could not sleep. She rolled onto her side and stared at the closed drapes. A sliver of light crawling upwards in the space between the pair. She trailed that light to the top of the window pane, then slid into a seated position, careful to keep her toes from touching the floor. It would be freezing by now. They’d forgotten to put on a fire before going to bed.

Behind her, Maeve felt the bed shift. She turned her head in time to see her husband, Kylo’s head peak out from underneath the covers--still asleep from the snores that erupted from his parted mouth. She smiled then, at the familiarity of the situation. It’d been so long, eight months to be exact, but it still annoyed the ever living daylights out of her that Kylo tended to snore.

Outside their apartment in the Palace, Maeve could hear the bustle of servants walking up and down the hallway, though she knew they tried their best to be quiet. It was difficult not to hear them when everything felt so new, and breakable.

“Kylo?”

Maeve heard him shuffle. The bed sheets pulled at her thighs.

“Don’t get up,” she said. “I’ve got some things to do. Sleep. I’ll see you later.”

“Stay.” Kylo’s hand grasped hers.

Maeve slid out of his grasp. “Sleep.”

He gave no fight, and Maeve slid out of bed. Her feet did touch a freezing floor, so she hopped across it like an unbalanced antelope. A snort from the other side of the room made her look back. Kylo had his arms behind his head, bare chest revealed by the tumble of the sheets, hair tousled in a way only Maeve knew. He looked at her and Maeve bit back the urge to return it with a pleased smirk of her own.

“What?” She hated when he stared like that, in that brooding intense way of his. It made the skin along her arms pebble.

“You’re naked.”

Maeve crossed her arms over her chest. “Yes, I know that.”

“Would you mind doing that routine over again, so I could catch it all this time?”

“Oh, Fuck you.” Maeve swiveled on her toes, and marched out of the room. If her hips moved in just a slightly more rotated pattern, then that was the cold floor’s fault, and not for the bark of laughter it earned her.

 

Phasma stood waiting outside of the door when Maeve exited for the day. On her way out she’d ducked back into Kylo’s room to confirm that he’d gone back to sleep, and found him slumped diagonally across the bed. He never was very good at sharing the bed.

“Good Morning, Ma’am,” Phasma said.

“Morning Phasma. Coming with me today?”

“Sir’s schedule makes my presence unnecessary.”

Maeve started down the stairs, moving easier than she had last night, now that she was dressed in her riding pants and a button down shirt.

“How soon will the Queen be barging in to wake him?”

“Within the hour.”

“Hah, best of luck to him then. Hungry?”

“Kitchen or dining rooms? The twins have already eaten and are with the tutors now.”

Maeve turned at the mention of her daughters. It wasn’t like her to not kiss them good morning. “We’ll go say hello, then head to the kitchens.”

It took all of five minutes for Maeve to say good morning to the girls. Both Anne and Padme loved their tutors, and being so young they did not do much but draw and learn languages all day. Maeve ached for those days again, the freedom. Though, they did not forget to ask about one thing before Maeve left them.

“Are we getting kitties, today?” Anne asked.

“Yes, please momma. We’ve been so good. So good.”

Maeve squatted to place one last kiss to their cheeks. “I’ll talk to Papa. It was his present.” She popped Anne on the nose and stood. “Have fun, little bugs.”

“Bye momma, bye Phasma.” The twins called in unison.

Phasma lead the way down to the kitchens. The Palace hustling and bustling as it always did. Maeve still marveled it, even after living within it for years. The way it moved and flowed through any sort of obstacle or challenge. It was the most marvelous machine she’d ever seen. It rivaled the automobile and train. The gears and tracks here far more treacherous and prone to disaster than those in the real world.

Maeve recognized the faces they passed. Some curtsied or called out to her, but most let her be. Maeve couldn’t thank them enough for that. This life was chaotic, leaving her to always wish for the peace of her own quarters. It’s why she had hid there so often in the months Kylo was away--when he’d abandoned her for his own retreat in the mountains.

“You’re grumbling,” Phasma said. She opened the back doors that lead to the kitchen.

“Sorry.”

This section of the kitchen was quiet. They left it this way just for occasions like this. Maeve set a kettle onto the stove, and pulled out the bread box, before turning to Phasma.

“Tea and toast?”

“Already ate.” Phasma paused. “But Thank you.”

“Alright, well, I plan on riding after this, so I’m not sure what use you would be to me today as well. Are you sure Kylo wouldn’t need you?”

“I can ride with you, Ma’am.”

Maeve poured the water into the mug. It melted the spoonful of honey she’d poured into it first, darkening the color of the drink before she even set in the tea bag. There was a reason why she’d run out of the rooms before Kylo today. Things had changed while he was gone. Her circle of trusted friends opened and closed around new people.

“Captain Dameron is going to escort me.”

Phasma stood from her chair. The sound it made screeching across the tile floor made Maeve flinch. She spread her legs to better balance for the tiff that was to come from the way Phasma’s bright eyebrows clenched together. The twists of Phasma’s mouth like she’d eaten something wretched, like brussels sprouts dipped in wasabi.

“He’s been a good companion these past few months,” Maeve said offering an explanation she knew Phasma wouldn’t hear. Kylo and Poe Dameron were as close to sworn enemies two men in the Palace could be. Poe went to the same schools as Kylo. Excelled in every way that Kylo couldn’t. He even earned his pilot’s license a good month before Kylo. The war of egos between them unfinished even now as adults--in fact, Maeve thought it’d worsened.

“Does The Prince know?”

“What should it matter to him who I ride with? Who I’m friends with? Things change.”

“First you said Captain Dameron was a companion, and now you say friend. Those are two very different things, Ma’am.”

Maeve set her tea down. A wave of it splashed onto the counter. She grabbed the cloth from beside the sink and let the drink soak into it. Let the space of those few seconds settle the heat roaring in her blood.

“I understand Kylo has a distaste for the Captain, but my days are my own, as is my choice in friendship. Be sure to remind the Prince of that when you go running back to him.”

Maeve stole the toast out of the toaster, and stormed out of the kitchen. It was only when she took the first bite that she remembered she’d forgotten the butter and cursed loud enough that the servants down the hall dropped their things. Maeve froze, and her voice squeaked as she called out to them, “Sorry.”

 

“Please, please stop and describe in full detail the face Captain Phasma made when you said you were going riding with me,” Captain Poe Dameron pleaded from beside Maeve, snickering like a young colt. “Did her nose pinch in distaste? Or was it pure hatred in those silver eyes of hers?”

“Poe,” Maeve said. Though her tone was far less serious than she meant, like when she tried to scold the girls after they’d cursed. “She was rather… put off by the whole thing. But that’s it. I’m not telling you anything else. I’m sure I’ll hear enough about the whole thing...later.”

“Of course, Ma’am--”

“Oh don’t you dare start doing that.”

“Sorry Ma--”

Maeve smacked Poe with her riding gloves, but it only made Poe laugh even harder. The curls, so perfectly tousled on his head shook as he did. Maeve couldn’t help it and joined him. When all had seemed lost in those eight months Poe had been one of the handful of people able to lift her spirits. If Kylo thought he could take away her rides or their friendship, he’d find out just how much Maeve had changed, and how much she’d stayed the same.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyooo Buck-os. I've decided I'm not going to tell you my posting schedule yet until I've got it settled with myself. I'm thinking one to two times a week depending on how fast I can pump these chapters out. Just subscribe and you'll get notified either way lol
> 
> Anyway, enjoy the chapter. I'm having a lot of fun writing this, I hope you like it too.

“How’s Finn?” Meave asked Captain Poe Dameron once they were out of earshot of the Palace.

There were little birds everywhere, and not all of them Poe’s.

“Good. Good. The Medicine’s helped,” Poe said. “Thank you for your recommendation. The Doctor said we caught the pneumonia before it created any lasting damage.”

“I’m only angry you didn’t let me help earlier.”

Poe shrugged. “You know Finn. He doesn’t know when to ask for help--doesn’t like to.”

“No one does, but it’s better than dying from something that’s easily treatable.”

“Finn’s Finn,” Poe said, in that sad way he got whenever Finn’s past came up. “Some things take time, and I don’t think he’ll ever get over looking after himself. No matter how often we try and force him to.”

As a child, Finn was taken from his family to become a child soldier—groomed and trained for a possible adulthood in Vader’s army. A side project of Vader’s mentor and most trusted General, Palpatine. Finn escaped the war camps when he was still young, and survived with a few other war-orphans until he found his way to Alderaan and eventually Poe.

He never talked about it, but Maeve could still see the scars of Finn’s past etched into his warm eyes. It made it difficult to help him without forcing yourself into the situation, even if Maeve was his employer and felt protective of him.

Meave adjusted her position on the saddle, and then pressed her mount into a faster trot. They were in the Gardens proper now. Spread around them was a spiraling maze of shrubs that stretched towards the Heavens. Every flower native to Alderaan raised within the walls of the maze. Pockets of sunflowers, roses and violets, for the birds to play in, as well as herbs, vegetables and fruits for the kitchens. The names of each plant displayed on small wooden stakes, a feature Leia had installed after Anne and Padme accidentally rolled around in a poison oak patch.

Maeve took the first entrance into maze, Poe right behind her. The designs that were carved in the shrubs reminded Maeve of the swirls and symbols etched into the rocks on Maridun. No one was sure who made them here--or they were too afraid to tell her--but each time she passed them it caused a shiver to run down Maeve’s spine. It’s why she came here so often. Also because it was quiet, and she could be alone, really alone. Just the birds, bugs, and Poe.

“I saw you went to the Kenobi club last night,” Poe said after a while. He had a certain gleam to his gaze. One that made Maeve groan. “You and the Prince looked very nice. Very put together for the cameras.”

“We had a good time, until Hux showed up.”

“He did?”

“Oh, you already knew that. I’m sure everyone in the country knows about it.”

Poe just smiled in that charming way of his—the one that proved he knew exactly what happened at the club. “I just know how he ran out of there with his tail tucked between his legs.”

“He’s a prick,” Meave said. “I wanted so badly to just smash that squished face of his into the table - repeatedly”

“What did His Majesty say?”

“Kylo nearly bit Hux’s head off, and would have beat him to a bloody pulp if Phasma hadn’t dragged Hux out of the club.” She tapped her hand against her lips, imagining Kylo standing in the club, heaving with Hux’s blood on his fists, his lips. How it would have tasted against hers. The combination of whiskey and blood both exhilarating and disgusting. “I probably would have let him kill him right in front of me.”

“Now, there’s my Maridun Queen. I’d almost started to believe you’d had all your fight zapped out of you.”

“Never.”

If there was one thing Maeve had learned growing up in Maridun is that you could never lose your fight, not if you had something worth fighting for, and Maeve had two good reasons.

Poe slid from his mount, and Maeve followed. They led the horses around a sharp green corner, and stopped near the fountain of the Water Nymphs so the horses could drink while they talked. It was their spot. The most secluded spot in the garden, one that took too long to walk to so most valets and handmaidens avoided it.

Three benches set around the circular space, one for each entrance. A patch of Forget-me-nots surrounded the fountain. They were no longer in full bloom, but the bright blue color of their leaves still shone strong thanks to the rich Alderaan sunshine.

“Why do you think Hux was there, in the club?”

“To surprise us—me. That’s who Kylo was with all those months. He was hiding in the mountains with Hux and presumably his rat of an uncle, Snoke.”

“What?” Poe spun to her, surprise etched into his handsome features. A look he did not have often.

“I know. Of all the things… I almost wish he’d been having an affair.” Though he could have been. Kylo’s preference for partners of any gender was not a secret to Maeve.

“Hux is one thing, Maeve, but Snoke… Does the Queen know?”

Maeve folded her hands in her lap, tapped her thumbs together to stop herself from digging her nails into her skin. She knew what it meant that Kylo had met Snoke. Even though Leia had long since pardoned the Lord for his actions in the war—a move she’d been forced to make early on in the negotiations—Snoke was still a danger to Alderaan. She knew and yet she refused to accept it. Kylo was her husband, the man she trusted and loved and would love until this world burned to ash. He wouldn’t betray his family like this.

“I’m sure she already knows. She always does.”

“This is something else,” Poe said. “There have been rumors...”

“Rumors about what?”

“Whispers about a rebellion. We’ve taken the proper precautions, but it’s been months and the whispers have lead us nowhere.”

Maeve pulled a hand down her face. So it was worse than she thought. She could only hope Kylo wasn’t lying to her when she’d asked if he was planning something with Snoke and Hux. All that talk of abdication came rushing back to her then. The cold hand of fear grasped at her throat. Maybe they should leave and never come back.

“Did The Prince tell you what they discussed?”

“No.”

Poe shifted on the bench. “No he didn’t say anything or no you won’t tell me?”

“No, he didn’t say anything, Poe. He knows… Kylo knows what Snoke and Vader did. _He knows_.”

“Right. Just… keep your ears open.”

Maeve twisted away from Poe. Her tongue coated in bile. These rides were meant to settle her, not twist her stomach even more. Maeve wasn’t one of Poe’s little birds, fluttering here and there searching for information. Her interests were in protecting her family, and herself from whatever was to come.

“I think it’s time we head back,” Maeve said.

“Of course.”

The ride back was awkward. Poe stayed behind Maeve. He knew to leave the Duchess alone when she got into an angry headspace. Her lips pursed together even more with each shift of her mount.

At the entrance of the stables, Maeve’s whole day went to shit. For standing inside with his hands behind his back, was her darling husband. Kylo dressed for a day in court, rather than a ride through the gardens. The only bit of color in his black ensemble the white shirt beneath his tailored suit. She didn’t know whether she wanted to wring his neck, or jump him in the middle of the stables. His hair would look rather pretty with bits of hay sticking out of it.

“Maeve,” Kylo said once they entered the stables. “I was looking for you. Mother said you might be here.”

“Afternoon, your Majesty,” Poe said from beside Maeve.

She turned to the Captain and just gave him a look. One that would have set his bones on fire if Maeve was a witch like the rest of Alderaan thought she was. At this point she wished she was too. Now was not the time to let the two males get into a fist fight. Not so soon after Kylo’s return.

“I thought The Queen would have all your time today,” Maeve said while she slid from her horse.

Kylo stepped up beside her. The main reason she knew he was there was the electric energy that bounced off of him. An electric storm, she’d said to her mother when she and Kylo first started their courtship, being around him was like standing in an empty field below a storm and never knowing when lightning would strike.

“Come with me. The hands will put your horse away.”

Maeve dodged Kylo’s grasp. “I like to do it.”

“Maeve.”

“Kylo.”

Kylo stepped away. He hovered behind Maeve while she brushed her horse until his coat shined brighter than the metals on Poe’s coat. Kylo’s shoulders hunched forward, supplicant. Maeve took her time with each brush stroke. Her fingers danced between the mane of her horse until each strand was untangled. Then she returned him to his caretaker: a young female named BB. She was one of the main caretakers on the grounds, and also one of Poe’s little birds. People loved to come to the stables for secretive meetings, or so Maeve had learned from her dealings with Poe and BB.

“Thank you, BB.” Maeve said. “Same time tomorrow, Captain?”

Poe turned then. His lips pursed as he took in the Royal couple. Maeve and her light features, and then Kylo shrouded in darkness. They stood so close that the light and dark mixed together into a sort of haze. Maeve wasn’t all good and Kylo wasn’t all bad, but what they created when they were together scared Poe more than anything else. The possibility and power in those two could burn the world.

“Whatever pleases you,” he said at last.

Maeve nodded. He’d given her an out, the pretty fool. “See you tomorrow, then. Thank you for the ride, Captain.”

“I hope you enjoy the rest of your day, Ma’am.” Poe paused and regarded Kylo. “It’s good to have you back, Sir.”

“Dameron.” Kylo said, his voice bit out the Captain’s name like a trumpet’s staccato in a march, though he could not stop it from sounding like a growl.

Maeve fought the flinch that threatened to work its way across her skin. That went better than it could have. Perhaps Phasma had told Kylo what she said in the kitchen. Perhaps they could be civil. Maeve almost believed it. Then Poe had to open his mouth and ruin it.

“Did you enjoy your dalliance with Hux in the mountains? I hear it’s very romantic up there this time of year.”

“Poe,” Maeve stepped between the two men. “That’s enough.”

“No, please Captain Dameron, do tell me what else you think you know about me. I’m all ears.”

“Yes, _yes you are._ I’m surprised you didn’t fly back here with those two wings on the side of your head.” Poe smiled, a wild dangerous smile. One that made Maeve throw back her head and groan.

Maeve pulled on Kylo’s arm. He moved enough for her to intertwine their fingers and squeeze. A warning in the way her nails dug into his skin. To his credit, Kylo didn’t flinch from the pain but moved back with his wife instead.

Poe bowed before them. “A pleasure speaking with you, Your Majesty.”

“Piss off, Dameron.”

Maeve pulled them back into the empty hallway of the palace. Her shoulders pushed up to her ears. She wasn’t sure who to be more upset with, Poe or Kylo. Why did she have to love two stubborn men?

“I don’t understand how you could stand to be around him.”

“And I don’t know how you spent eight months with Hux, but people can surprise you, Kylo.” Maeve bit back. “What did you need?”

Kylo hunched forward. To his credit, he did look guilty, not enough to appease Maeve, but it did calm the rise of her temper enough that she stopped seeing red.

“The Prime Minister requested an audience with The Queen.”

“And?”

“I thought we could...spend the afternoon together.”

Maeve froze. “Oh.”

“I did not mean to impose on your riding time. Mother said--”

“It’s fine we were done anyway.”

“Good.”

Maeve shifted from foot to foot. Kylo was acting strange. He was speaking far too diplomatically. She narrowed her eyes at Kylo, taking in each tick of his jaw. The sharp line of his nose. How he refused to blink while she scrutinized him.

“You were surprisingly civil with the Captain,” she said at last, unable to figure out what he was up to.

“I...I am trying to choose my battles.”

There was that diplomacy. Leia must have spoken with him, and not Phasma. “I see.”

They stood in silence for a few more moments. Kylo pulled his hands behind his back. Maeve leaned against the wall. It was like the beginning all over again, the awkwardness, the silence. Unease settled in the pit of Maeve’s gut. So much had changed, and she didn’t know where to start.

“What did you have in mind?”

Kylo lifted his gaze. “Hmm?”

“You said we could spend the afternoon together but did you have any ideas as to what we would do?”

“No.”

Maeve choked out a laugh, of course he didn’t. “Right, well I was thinking of taking a bath. Shall we start there?”

Kylo perked. If he were a dog his ears would have snapped to attention like he’d spotted a rabbit or a dove within the bush. He stalked towards Maeve. Her lips twisting into a small smile. Kylo liked to believe he the hunter and Maeve the prey, but just because she was small, it didn’t mean Maeve didn’t have a bite to her.

“Well?” She asked. Her hands behind her back now, drumming against the stone.

Kylo moved closer, his back bent forward to line up his nose with Maeve’s. Her eyes took in every measured breathe Kylo took. His gaze trained on her lips. She let them part just a bit, enough to let out a hushed breathe, a small whine sent out like a dog whistle. He might have been gone for eight months, but Maeve would always remember what made Kylo tick, and she wanted him trembling before the end of it.

“Is that a yes or no? I’d like to get out of these clothes.”

Kylo dragged his eyes from her lips to meet her gaze. “Yes.”

Maeve pushed away from the wall, and her nose bumped against Kylo’s. Her lips whispered across his skin. She felt rather than heard his rushed intake of breath. Her hand dragged across his chest, it tensed below her fingertips, and she passed by him and into the hallway. Kylo’s heavy steps followed.

To the staff, it looked like the Prince was following his wife. But to Maeve, she knew what the clenching of his fists meant. How the angle of his hips moved to hide the erection beneath his pants. She’d let him have it easy last night, now she wanted to play.

She opened the door to their apartment, and let Kylo pass through in front of her before She moved in and closed the door behind her. Pushed it slow enough that you would have to be standing next to it to hear the door click shut, followed by the lock shifting into place.

Kylo stood in the middle of the room. His jaw ticked while Maeved move around him. She took off her riding boots first, careful to take her time with it. Her fingers danced along her calves, then massaged the heel of her foot before moving onto the next boot. Her eyes locked with Kylo’s the whole time. Her face as blank as his, daring him to say something, do something. To fall into her little trap.

Throughout it all, Kylo was silent. When Maeve was done with her show she couldn’t help but pout. She’d expected him to crack by now. The fact that he hadn’t jumped her while she’d wiggled out of her pants was just rude. Kylo was not known for his self control.

“Shall I start the bath?” He asked.

Maeve stood then, and walked towards Kylo. She placed her hand on the lapel of his jacket and dragged him towards her. If he wouldn’t break through teasing, then she’d just have to do it the old fashion way.

“I want you to fuck me on the floor,” she said. “I want my knees to burn in the morning and there to be bruises on my hips from where you dug your fingers into them to keep steady.”

“I thought you wanted a bath.”

Maeve groaned. She threw back her head to catch Kylo smiling down at her. The sparkle in his eyes made her pounce. Maeve thankful for Kylo’s obsessive nature towards exercise because he hefted Maeve into his arms as if she didn’t weight around 190lbs, though she knew she did.

“You’re not making this any fun,” she said, poking at the moles on his cheeks.

“Perhaps you’re just too easy to read.”

“So I should make it harder for you?” Maeve punctuated her question by pressing her pelvis into the bulge of Kylo’s pants. His answering thrust made her pout disappear.

“Bath first,” he said pressing a kiss to the skin below Maeve’s right ear. His voice lowered another octave. “Then I’ll fuck you into the floor, if you’d like.”

Maeve slid down Kylo. Her feet touched the floor and a shiver shot up her spine. Why was it always so cold in their rooms? She followed Kylo into the bathroom where he started to prepare the bath. Maeve sat on the same stool Kylo had last night. She watched him turn on the water, then remove his jacket. Followed by his tie. He tossed it to her, which she caught with her left hand, then draped on the towel rack.

“No strip tease?” She asked.

“I’m not as good at it as you.”

Kylo was down to his undershorts and socks now. Strong thighs revealed beneath the edge of his shirt. Maeve wanted to run her fingertips along the muscles, feel their strength beneath her palms while she took her pleasure. Kylo dropped to his knees before Maeve and nuzzled his head against her stomach. His hands on her knees, slowly but surely pushing them apart. Maeve let him, but stopped his head from diving south.

“What?” Kylo’s eyebrows furrowed.

“I don’t really… I don’t want you to.”

“Okay.” Kylo stood.

Maeve took his offered hand and let him guide her into the tub. The water on the verge of being too hot. Her skin a soft shade of pink within a few seconds. She pulled her knees to her chest while Kylo finished stripping and joined her. A small amount of water splashed onto the tile as he slid into the tub behind Maeve. She didn’t move while he situated himself around her.

The tub was a wedding gift from Leia. The old one, probably installed when the Palace was renovated by Padme Amidala, could barely fit a babe. Now, the tub was plenty big for both Maeve and Kylo to slide into, even with Kylo being abnormally tall and bulky.

“Comfortable?” She asked. One hand diving in and out of the water like a fake dolphin, while the other kept her knees hugged to her chest.

Kylo slid one of his arms around her waist and pulled her back, until she hit his chest. The weight of his cock pressed into the small of her back. A reminder, and a promise of what was to come. Kylo’s hands moved higher, to her shoulders, where they settled and dug into her skin.

Little by little Maeve unwound. Her neck fell back against Kylo’s chest. Her hands dropped and gripped his thighs. Her knees sank beneath the water line. All the while Kylo’s hands drifted further and further south until they reached her hips, where he finally dragged a moan from Maeve’s lips, though she tried to stop it at the last moment.

“What was that?” He asked.

Maeve felt his smile against the skin of her neck. He mouthed at her pulse there, then bit into the meat of her shoulder while he squeezed her ass. She squirmed this time, but no sound left her lips.

“Is this okay?” Kylo danced his fingers around to Maeve’s stomach. When Maeve didn’t answer, he gently pinched her thigh. “Maeve?”

“Yes. Yes it’s fine.”

Kylo’s hands stopped. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing...I’m just in my head and I don’t— I don’t feel very good about me right now but I’m okay with this, with you touching me.” Maeve took a deep breath. Stripping for Kylo had been fine. She knew she'd gained weight and that that did not affect his affection towards her but ever since she’d entered the bathroom it’s like she just remembered how fat she was. Not that she thought being fat was wrong, but sometimes her brain just couldn’t wrap around the fact that she loved herself and loved having Kylo touch her. Sometimes it all just became too much. Not to mention there had been a few changes since Kylo last saw her with sober eyes, new scars. “I’m okay. Just...just go slow with me.”

Kylo placed another kiss below Maeve’s ear, earning him a shiver down Maeve’s spine. His hands spread her thighs again, and this time she did not stop him from moving towards her vagina.

The first caress of his pointer finger along her folds had Maeve tightening her grip on Kylo’s thigh. When he dragged that same finger seam to clit she fully sank into the water, and Kylo. He laughed breathlessly into her ear. She hadn’t spent much of her time in the last eight months touching herself, so everything felt more sensitive than it had in years. A weight sat on the lower section of her belly. It tightening with each flick of Kylo’s finger against her hardening clit. Her teeth bit into the flesh of her lower lip.

“Good?” Kylo nudged Maeve’s neck with his nose. Drew a pattern on it while he worked her closer to the edge. “Maeve.”

“Harder,” Maeve said. Her voice low, close to cracking from how she held her breath.

Kylo obliged, digging his finger into her, moving it in leisurely circles until Maeve’s thighs started to twitch. That weight on her stomach twisting and pulling until she was grinding herself against Kylo. Water sloshed around them as she ran after the feeling unfurling within her. Her legs spread wider, and Kylo used his other hand to keep her steady.

Maeve sank further into the water. Her hips moving to meet Kylo’s touch. He rubbed his palm against her and the calluses from his years handing a sword added just the perfect amount of friction. One second she was chasing a feeling, the next her body crumpled forward, spasms wracking down her spine and forcing her thighs to clamp around Kylo’s hand. The walls of her vagina gasping, pulsing through her orgasm.

Kylo pressed open mouth kisses to her shoulder while Maeve leaned against him. Her eyes closed as the last shivers passed through her skin. The calm after an orgasm settling into her bones, but the weight in her stomach was still there, waiting.

“Thank you,” she breathed.

“Better?”

“Much.”

Maeve turned in the water to face Kylo. He just watched her while she moved around the small space, picking up bottles and squeezing the product into her hands. She washed herself first, careful to avoid her tender clit as she did so. If she spent more time massaging her breasts, it was just to make sure they were extra clean, not for the way Kylo’s eyes watched her.

After she was done with herself, Maeve reached around for Kylo’s soap and began to wash him. The scent of it described on the bottle as mint and wood chip—how they infused soap with wood chips she’d never know.

The first time they bathed together, Kylo had refused to let Maeve touch him. Back then, he was very hands off about the whole thing. He would always fuck her from behind, her head shoved into a pillow to keep her occupied. Her own hands between her legs. His voice growling in her ear. Sometimes she missed those days.

Now, Kylo sat still while Maeve spread the soap across his chest. She felt his abs flex beneath her. Her fingers massaged the curve of his shoulders, then dove around to his back. Her breasts pushed against his. His hands on her hips, moving her slowly over his growing erection.

“I’m not sure there’s any benefit to us getting clean now,” she said.

Her eyes flicked up to meet Kylo’s. A soft smile pulling at his normally tense features.

“Probably not,” he said. Then nudged his nose against Maeve’s

She set down the soap bottle, Kylo still thrusting lazily between her spread thighs. He pulled her even closer, and nudged her nose again. Maeve took the hint and curled upwards so her mouth could slant against his. His lips dry at first, but the longer they kissed the more pliant he became, and soft. They kissed as if the world turned just for them, for this moment.

Kylo’s tongue flicked out against her lips and she opened wide enough for him to breathe into her. The kiss heady and wet. It left Maeve grasping at Kylo’s shoulders, holding onto him while she ground herself against the tip of his penis.

Kylo’s breath stuttered and Maeve couldn’t help the smile that spread her thin pink lips. Kylo no doubt felt her lips twist against his, so he bit into her bottom lip, and then pulled back an inch so he could stare into Maeve’s eyes. Mirrored in his dark gaze, she could see the way the lids of her eyes lowered with lust.

“Tease,” he said.

“Who? Me?”

Maeve ground herself harder against Kylo’s erection. To the point that he almost slid within her. Kylo’s shoulders quaked, but he did not wrest control from Maeve. She did it again and again, until Kylo stilled her movements. He tipped her head back and found a smug smirk had replaced her pleased smile.

“I’d like to fuck you now,” He said.

“Oh.” There was that twist in her gut again.

“Would you rather I did it here in the bathroom, or the living room?”

A shiver tickled down Maeve’s spine. Kylo pressed his thumbs harder into her sides. His eyes devouring her.

“Living room.”

Kylo lifted both of them out of the water. In the process the tip of his penis rubbed against Maeve’s clit in just the right way and she just about came from that touch. Her fingers ripped into his shoulder blade, trying to angle herself in the same way again, but Kylo twisted her body so he could carry her bridal style out of the tub. He set her down on her feet and draped a towel around her shoulders, then grabbed one for himself.

Maeve marveled at his patience. He waited until Maeve had patted the last bit of water from her body before hefting her up and over his shoulder. Her stomach did a somersault and Maeve couldn’t help but bang the heel of her palm against Kylo’s tense back.

“Hey,” she said. “I can walk.”

“This is faster.”

Some days Kylo was a gentle lover, like in the tub, but on others he reverted back to his cave man personality and just about broke Maeve in half. Today would be one of those days.

With one hand firmly planted on her left butt cheek, Kylo held Maeve, and with the other he ripped one of the larger pillows from the couch and threw it on the ground in front of him. He tapped her lovingly on the ass, before he slid Maeve off his shoulder and placed her feet first on top of the pillow. Maeve still not tall enough to fully meet Kylo’s face. Her forehead at his chin level.

“Planned ahead did you?” She asked, bouncing lightly on the pillow.

“You sparked my imagination.”

Kylo tapped Maeve’s chin with his pointer finger, it hardened by both the water and the veracity in which he’d thrummed Maeve’s clit. She let him guide her chin upwards. Their eyes locked and Maeve couldn’t help but giggle. Kylo looked so intense, and broody, as he always did, but now it just seemed silly.

“You laughing at me?” He asked.

Maeve could tell he was fighting his own smile. She let hers widen just a bit.

“And if I am?”

Kylo shrugged. He had no come back for that.

“Alright,” Maeve said, planting her hands on her hips. “How do you want me?”

“Knees on the pillow. Ass in the air. High as it will go.”

Maeve’s eyes twitched. He always loved to bend her in new ways. One of these days she was going to pop a hip. Maybe she would take Poe’s advice and join him and the other guards for yoga.

Kylo thrusted playfully against Maeve’s hips and she sighed. Getting the hint she flopped down onto the pillow. Then adjusted herself so she had her knees on the pillow, hands on the floor before it, and ass in the air.

“Comfortable?” Kylo asked.

His hands were on Maeve’s ass now, massaging it as Maeve wiggled and adjusted herself. Her thighs already starting to burn.

“Probably about as comfortable as I could be.”

“If it’s—“

“I know. We’ll just see how it goes, yeah? Just don’t break me.”

Kylo bent over Maeve and licked from the base of her spine to her neck. It tickled more than anything, and to others it might have been gross, but Maeve didn’t mind. This was the side of Kylo she loved most. He never hurt her like this. She laughed when he pecked her quickly on the neck before moving back to a standing position.

He spread her thighs, shifting the pillow just a bit. Maeve took a deep breath in when she felt the head of his penis line up with her, and together as he slid into her slick heat, Maeve and Kylo both exhaled. Maeve shuddered against the feeling of him inside of her. One of Kylo's fingers already tracing those same small circles into her clit.

It took a few thrusts for Kylo to find his balance between holding Maeve and making sure the pillow didn’t send her flying across the floor. Maeve laughed through it all. Her breasts bounced almost to the point of pain. But then, then Kylo did that thing she loved and hit that spot inside of her so perfectly that the bounce of breasts and the jiggle of her thighs was background to the feeling of falling that soared through her veins.

The position allowed Maeve to cum again, so soon after Kylo started that it surprised both of them and almost forced Maeve to fall face first into the wood floor, but it also felt as if all the blood in her body had settled behind her eyes. This was not her least favorite position they'd ever tried, but she wouldn’t be begging to do it again anytime soon. Not until after she started yoga with Poe.

Kylo didn’t howl when he came, nor scream her name. If he had, Maeve would have assumed he was faking it. Neither of them were very vocal partners. No, when Kylo came he leaned over Maeve with the last thrust of his hips and hissed a single “fuck” into her upper back. Maeve pleasantly surprised by how much she still loved to be squashed beneath Kylo’s weight. His presence comfortable on a level she hadn’t felt in months.

They lay there side by side afterwards. The floor stiff beneath them. Maeve curled inward on herself, feeling no better than before. Her stomach tied in knots. Not upset about having sex, but still filled with the unease from her conversation with Poe.

Then a brush of fingers on her back. Kylo’s fingers, seeking her out, pulling her towards him until her back hit his chest. Maeve tucked against him, protected by his mass.

“Did you fuck Hux?” She asked at last. The question had been burning on her tongue for the last hour—since Poe mentioned it.

“Did you fuck Dameron?

Maeve shivered. Is that how ridiculous her question seemed too? “No.”

“No, I did not fuck Hux.”

“Anyone else?”

“No.”

That was that. One step closer to learning the truth. Maeve relaxed against Kylo. Let him weave his legs through hers and fold his arms around her waist. He pulled the pillow so it fell beneath both their heads. Maeve fell asleep there on the hard floor. She’d forgotten how exhausted she was.

Sometime later, a knock sounded at the door. Kylo shifted beside Maeve, and stood. She followed suit, heading to bathroom while he answered the door. Inside the bathroom she splashed her face with cold water, then took one of the wash rags by the sink and wiped the goo from between her legs. She dropped that rag into the trash, slid on Kylo’s dark blue robe, securing it with a double knot around her waist and exited the bathroom.

She looked up just in time for a valet to enter the room. He looked first to Maeve dressed only in a robe, then to Kylo. The tips of his cheeks red when he addressed them.

“The Queen has asked for both of you to meet her in the gallery.”

“The gallery?” Kylo asked, just about barked at the valet. “Why?”

“His Grace the Duke Of Tatooine has arrived, unexpectedly.”

Maeve wrapped her arms around her midsection. Her gaze trained on Kylo’s features, the way his eyes narrowed and then blazed with anger. The valet took a step back.

“Thank you,” Maeve said, and the valet sprinted out of the room. She turned to Kylo then, and pressed her own anxiety and fear. “Should we go?”

Kylo sneered. “Do we have a choice?”

“No, but I should change.”

“Who gives a fuck what you’re wearing.”

The Queen. The household. Every single piece of protocol Maeve had been forced to learn since the moment she met the Organas revolved around appearance and the importance of dress. Maeve sighed and jutted out her hip.

“You’re naked, Kylo. So am I.”

Kylo looked down at himself then. His limp cock hanging between his thighs. “Right,” he said.

Maeve changed back into her riding gear. It was the quickest thing to put on in her closet other than one of her pajamas. She met Kylo in their shared room. He dressed again in the suit from before. She reached up to straighten the neck of his tie, and Kylo pecked the top of Maeve’s head.

“Ready?” She asked.

Kylo strode out of the room. His feet stormed down the stairs in a fury. Why did they both enjoy storming out of rooms so much? It would give Maeve a stroke one of these days. She hot on his trail. Her breathing coming in puffs by the time they reached the first floor. She had to strain her legs even further to keep up with Kylo’s gait. Just before they made it to the gallery she caught up completely, and pulled Kylo to a stop. What she saw in his eyes broke her heart.

“Look at me,” she said. “Look at me. Don’t go in there guns blazing when peace is a reality.”

“I...” Kylo heaved. “I’m not angry at him.”

Luke had been Kylo’s mentor back before becoming Kylo Ren. He’d helped Ben choose the right schools to go to. Helped him learn to fight in the Alderaan styles with blades made from Maridun steel. Steel that had color to it and could withstand the bolts of Trooper’s guns. But when Ben had needed Luke the most, Luke disappeared.

“You could’ve fooled me—“

“I know,” he barked, then flinched. He took her hands in his, and brushed his thumb over the ridge of Maeve’s knuckles. “We’ll discuss what to do about Hux later. First, let’s deal with my Uncle.”

“Yes, yes fine.”

“I’m sorry.”

Maeve placed her palm on Kylo’s face. She tapped at his chin and he leaned down so she could reach his mouth, their lips pressed together in what she hoped was a reassuring kiss. He clung to her as if he would never see her, nor touch her again. Maeve dug her fingers into his arms, his muscles tensed beneath the fabric of his suit, then pushed her body against his. So he could feel every curve of her. He was afraid, and so Maeve could not be.

“Come on,” Maeve said when she pulled away. “We’ll enter together. A united front.”

“Alright.”

Kylo interlaced Maeve’s hand with his, and opened the door. In the middle of the room stood the most powerful twins in the world, Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa. Maeve paused for just a moment after they entered. The air in the room sweetened by the candles lit on the sconces. The painted generations of Organas, Amidalas, and now Skywalkers staring down the couple as they entered. She tightened her grip on Kylo’s hand. Luke never came to the Capital if he could avoid it. If he was here now, it could only mean one thing: war.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey so. I don't write smut very often but Maeve and Kylo's relationship is built on their sexual attraction to each other so expect it every now and then. That being said, if you have any tips or pointers about making them better let me know.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, happy almost-end-of 2017. I hope you enjoy this new chapter. Time to get the ball rolling on the First Order, eh?  
> Thank you to everyone that's left kudos or even just bothered to read this little story, I really appreciate it!

Maeve usually avoided the Gallery. She only ventured down it’s dark tiles when a foreign diplomat requested a tour of the Palace and Maeve was forced to tag along—a few years ago one dignitary made the mistake of requesting Maeve lead the group on the tour and they received a rather scathing version of Alderaan’s history. The uncomfortable way the diplomat’s faces scrunched as she described the atrocities of Vader’s Empire had been enough to satisfy Maeve for weeks. The thought of it still brought a smile to her face.

Every single ruler of Alderaan in the past 200 years was pictured in the Gallery. From oil paintings to the still-new photograph. It was rather impressive, in a creepy sort of way now that Maeve’s likeness was amongst them.

Leia noticed Maeve and Kylo’s entrance first. She pushed Luke forward with her, forcing him on a collision path with Kylo. While they walked, Maeve took in Luke Skywalker’s familiar features. He’d grown a beard, and it was, as well as his once blonde hair, streaked with grey. His manner of dress had stayed the same. A crisp three-piece grey tweed suit, old fashioned but still well put together. A singular spark of green from the small, circular pin he wore over his breast: The symbol of the Jedi Order, and the greatest warriors of Alderaan.

Luke and Kylo shook hands in that stiff way both Maeve and Leia recognized as them sizing each other up. The veins in their hands so pronounced Maeve could have counted each one. She looked to Leia, who just rolled her eyes. The expression a well practiced one.

“Ben,” Luke said as a form of greeting.

“Uncle.”

“You look well.”

Kylo shifted his position so he could appear even taller than his Uncle. “How’s Tatooine?”

“As hot as ever, but we’ve got a new solar farm being built down the road. A test to see if we can use sunshine to power the country.”

“Fascinating.”

“What a lovely family reunion,” Leia said. When the two men continued to stand stiffly in front of one another she huffed. “If you two are done, there’s something we need to discuss, in private.” She glanced round the room, then signaled for the group to move. “Follow me.”

Luke touched Maeve’s elbow as he passed. That smile she used to know so well flashed her way before he turned to follow Leia. It was so strange to have the twins back together again, as if the world was finally set on the right axis.

“Where’s Han?” Luke asked.

“He couldn't be found. I’m sure Chewie’s dragged him to some used car lot thinking they’ve found the Falcon.”

“They haven’t given up on finding that old thing?”

The look Leia gave Luke was enough for anyone to understand how Leia felt about Han spending his days searching for his old stolen car. Han and Chewie, the Lead mechanic for the Palace, had been friends since before Han and Leia met. It was Chewie who gave the car to Han in the first place, and Han who lost it one drunken night over 5 years ago.

Leia continued to the middle of the Gallery. To the painting of Padme Amidala that stretched from the floorboards to the ceiling. They all paused for a moment, to take in the beauty of Queen Amidala. Padme dressed in a long white gown, rumored to have been the one she wore during her secret wedding to Anakin Skywalker. The lake of Naboo in the background glittering as if tiny sparks of starlight had been caught in the waves. A veil of lace covered her long brown hair that fell over her shoulders like perfectly sculpted waves. Her dark eyes shone down on them like Heaven’s light. Always watching, always there.

Leia slid her fingers behind the right edge of the canvas, a pop sounded, and the painting pushed inward to reveal a darkly lit passage. Maeve could just make out the century old stones that decorated the floor. They imbued with some sort of glow-in-the-dark material that twinkled like stardust. Leia pulled a flashlight from within the folds of her coat, then passed another to Luke, and stepped inside. 

“Did you know about that?” Maeve asked. She and Kylo still in the Gallery.

“No.”

Leia’s voice echoed out of the secret passage. “Come along, we don’t have much time before someone comes looking for us. Apparently if one can’t see the Queen, she’s been abducted or murdered.”

“It’s happened before,” Luke said.

Maeve heard the smack of Leia’s glove against Luke’s shoulder, and turned in time to see Luke dart down the passage ahead of his sister. Her glove stilled raised in her left hand, while she aimed her flashlight with her right. The curses strung from the Queen’s lips made Maeve flinch. It was best not to remind Leia of the numerous times she’d been kidnapped during the war. Though, it was always the enemies who reaped the repercussions of those actions.

Kylo gestured for Maeve to enter first. The portrait slid shut behind them. A trigger perhaps, or the little ghosts hidden within the walls of the centuries old Palace. Kylo’s hand spread out against the dip of Maeve’s lower back, guiding her. The weight a comfort in the dark. He leaned down to whisper in Maeve’s ear, the tip of his chin rested in the crook of her neck.

“I almost wish we had known about this before,” he said. “No one would have stumbled upon us here.”

He pressed a kiss to Maeve’s skin, then straightened. Maeve smiled in the dark. Memories flashed in her mind, like ghosts behind her eyelids. Memories of she and Kylo running through halls, and pushed up against one another in alcoves. Kylo’s fingers dug into her waist, holding her against the back of a column while he ground into her core. Maeve’s knees stilled burned from kneeling before the Prince in tiny cupboards.

50 ft into the hall the path branched, followed by another branch and another until the hallway spread to reveal a large circular room. There were switches for what Maeve assumed would be electric lights, but Leia flicked them on once, then twice, but nothing happened, so she continued on her hunt for candles. The room revealed to Maeve one section at a time. The strike of flint sounded in the room, followed by the aroma of burning wood. 

Kylo’s fingers against her back disappeared as he took off after his mother. His tall frame bent forward to go through the papers strewn across the massive desks that decorated the room. A light layer of dust rained down on them from the ceiling. Charts and odd drawings hung up on the walls. The walls of Darth Vader’s war room.

“I always wondered where this was,” Luke said. He’d joined Kylo in his scavenging. “How did you find it?”

Leia set down her flashlight on one of the desks. “In the beginning, after my ascension, it used to take me ages to fall asleep. All I remember is stumbling into the gallery one night and noticing a faint light coming from behind Mother’s painting.” Leia shrugged, as if she hadn’t just stumbled upon one of History’s greatest tombs. “It lead me here.”

“Curious it wasn’t found before.”

“No one that was here bothered to look.” Leia said, her gaze narrowed at Luke. Her tone accusatory. 

Luke left Alderaan as soon as the war was over. He visited on special occasions—or when Leia threatened his livelihood— but the Palace was not his home. He didn’t know the way it’s floors creaked during the shift from Fall to Winter, nor dream about the scent of fresh oatmeal wafting up the back staircase. Alderaan wasn’t Home to Luke. The country as foreign to him as it was to Maeve. The two more alike than anyone would admit.

Maeve maneuvered around Leia and Luke. A massive table stood In the middle of the room. The map of the world printed on it. Maeve moved towards it, her feet leading her there while her arms wrapped around her mid-section. This was where Vader planned his attacks on her homeland. Where his generals would have met to discuss how best to enslave her ancestors. A hand pressed down on Maeve’s shoulder, and she turned to find Leia staring at her with an expression as close to understanding as the Queen could muster. Vader had taken everything from Leia too.

“I’m sorry to drag you here,” Leia said. “But this is the only secure room in the Palace. I debated having it walled in ages ago, but what better place to escape from my current enemies, than the hall of my previous one.”

“I don’t…I don’t understand,” Maeve said. “Why are we here?”

Leia turned to her brother. He still going through the maps and papers on the desks. “Luke.”

Luke turned and shrugged sheepishly at the two women waiting for him.

“We need to be quick about this,” Leia said.

Luke moved over to the middle table. While he walked, he removed a bundle of letters from his inside pockets. The red seal of The Empire stamped on each one. Maeve’s stomach rolled. Her father had a letter with that same seal hidden within the top drawer of his desk. The letter that had demanded for his and Maridun’s surrender at the beginning of the war. 

Kylo’s shoulder knocked into Maeve’s. It forced her to look up, and into his eyes. They squared on her face. Worry etched into the lines around his dark eyes, Leia’s eyes, Padme’s eyes. His ancestry so evident on his face when he looked at her like that. She knocked his shoulder back. She would be fine.

“There’s been an uprising of Vader sympathizers in Tatooine.” Luke said. He passed letters to Leia and Kylo. “As far as we know there have been no formal gatherings, nor war camps. Just meetings in the desert, where they assumed they would be far enough away from the prying gaze of the The Crown.”

Maeve took one of the letters from Luke’s hand. The language etched into the page one she was unfamiliar with. Unlike Kylo, Maeve was not taught every language of the commonwealth during her schooling. The only languages taught on Maridun were Maridunish and Alderaanian. Some didn’t even bother to learn the latter. She flipped it over, and ran her fingers along the raised seal. It was smoother than she remembered. The symbol of her people’s agony and persecution.

“I was only able to intercept these letters by luck. The movement is largely underground as it is, but they have named themselves as a resistance against the current regime. They‘re not so thrilled with the fact that you’ve chosen to continue with Queen Amidala’s legacy of rebuilding Alderaan, rather than expanding her borders.” He glanced to Leia, then continued. “From what we’ve gathered from the scraps they’ve left in these letters, they plan to burn the past to the ground, and institute a new ruling class over Alderaan and all its commonwealth in the name of Vader's Empire.”

“Why?” Maeve asked. The word erupted from her lungs. “Why would anyone fight under the name of The Empire?”

“We did not rid the world of all its evil,” Leia said. “We were too merciful. We’ve known this was coming—that it would come. Vader’s pull was too strong. The old ways too ingrained in some regions of the world.” She leaned against the table, her head hung as if all the power within her bones had been stolen from her in those last few seconds. For once the Queen looked her age. 

“You were able to intercept these letters, but have you uncovered where or to whom they were intended to be delivered?” Kylo asked. He folded the letter he had been reading and passed it back to his Uncle. “Have your Jedi Knights been dispatched?”

“Yes,” Luke said. “They’re out scouring for more information as we speak. It’s why I’ve come here. To ensure your Mother’s throne is not stolen from her by these fanatics.”

“Just you?” Kylo asked, surprised. “Why not bring others?”

“As you know, nephew, our numbers are too small to have us all gathered in one place. We work better to safeguard the Crown by moving in pairs—or on our own. We do what we must to ensure justice for the world.”

Kylo sneered. “Yes, of course. How I’ve forgotten about your mission of righteousness, Uncle.”

Maeve broke out of her bubble then. The hatred boiling in Kylo’s gaze enough that she pushed herself between the two men, her mouth opened to reprimand them both, but was beaten to it by Leia.

“We don’t have time for infighting,” she said. Her stance no longer bowed over the table. Her voice taking on that regal sense that Leia just seemed to have been born with. “While your Uncle is here, Ben I would have you help him in his search for more information about this…group. And you,” she turned to Luke. “Keep the snide comments to yourself. We are all on the same side here. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” Luke said.

Leia stared down Kylo. Mother and son equally matched in the arch of their eyebrows. The two more stubborn than the wild colts Maeve’s Mother trained on Maridun. She half expected them to stomp their feet and shake their heads. Maeve pulled on Kylo’s arm, and his shoulders relaxed. He bowed his head before the Queen.

“Of course,” he said. “Whatever you wish, Mother.”

“Thank you,” Leia said and deflated against the table again. “We’ll discuss more of this later. There’s the state dinner with Parliament tonight, and I expect all three of you to be on your best behavior. As well as to keep your eyes and ears open. No doubt the ones behind this very revolution will be in that room tonight.”

Maeve startled at that. When had she ever not been on her best behavior at these events? She had been rather rough around the edges at first, but now she was much better at hiding her disdain for the guests.

“Me?” she asked.

“Yes, even you,” Leia said. She pulled a hand down her haggard face. “In my meeting earlier with the Prime Minister, it was brought to my attention that the young Armitage Hux would be filling his Uncle’s previously unoccupied seat in the House of Lords.”

Maeve sputtered. Hux in the parliament? She looked to Kylo but addressed Leia. “How—”

“Lord Snoke has given up his rights, and passed them on to his heir. There’s nothing we can do to halt the proceedings as I have no just cause. Personal issues aside, I have heard no complaints about the young Lord that would deem him unfit to serve.”

“He’s a pure-ist,” Maeve said. Her face red when she faced down the Queen. “He wishes to rid my family, my ancestors legacy, and myself from Maridun and claim it for the Alderaan Empire once again. How is that not cause enough? How can you just stand here and let them fill your government with scum? Hux could be a part, or even the leader of this underground revolution.”

Luke stepped forward then, his presence felt in Maeve’s bones. “There is no evidence pointing towards Hux nor his Uncle in the letters. No movement from the highlands, nor Snoke’s residence. Snoke has been quiet for years now. He knows what wrath will rain upon him if he even sneezes too loud. We can’t make wild assumptions when dealing with threats like these.”

“Surely we can’t rule Hux out entirely.“

“I’ll keep an eye on Hux,” Kylo said.

Maeve snorted. “I’m sure you will.”

“There are others much worse than Hux already occupying seats within the Senate,” Leia said. Her eyes kind as she regarded Maeve, the closest thing she would get to an apology. “He will be watched, closely, like the others who have caused problems in the past, and will be dealt with when just causes present themselves. Now, I assume Lord Hux is being sworn in as we speak, so he will be in attendance tonight. If you wish to duel him there, Maeve, might I suggest doing it in a way that would garner you support, rather than ruining his face.”

Maeve folded in on herself. There was no winning here. She was stuck within this pit of vipers. Hux’s bite the worst of them all because he kept getting away with it. 

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I can’t disappear for long or Captain Dameron will have the National Guard swarming the city looking for me. Luke,” Leia said as she started her way back. “Walk with me.”

Maeve followed Kylo out of the room. Her hands wringing together as if it was Hux’s neck between them. She didn’t even notice they were back in the gallery until Kylo touched her elbow. His gaze unnaturally soft.

“Come on,” he said. Kylo’s hand replaced on Maeve’s back, leading her through the crowded halls. 

When they reached their apartment, Kylo stripped out of his suit again. Maeve watched him for a moment. Her eyes took in the shape of his back and the tension evident there. The scars from his days training to be one of Luke’s Jedi Knights criss crossed against the muscle. If she was a better wife, she would have walked towards him them. She would have let Kylo comfort her, and her him, but Maeve was tired, and right now it felt as if her whole world had been tipped upside down; and she couldn’t help but believe most of it was Kylo’s fault. 

Maeve closed the door to her private chambers slowly, and only when the lock clicked into place did she allow herself to crumple against it. Her knees drawn to her chest. Maeve did not cry, she did not wail, she did not feel. Hux would not cry over her, so she would not allow herself to do the same, even if her body begged for it. Instead, she sat against the wall, thinking, plotting, until a gentle knock sounded at the door that lead to the hallway of the Palace, followed by the entrance of one of Leia’s handmaidens. A long black box, secured by a cream colored bow, held in her hands. 

The handmaiden stepped into the room and startled when she saw Maeve sitting on the ground. She froze near the entrance of the door. When Maeve did not bark at her for entering without permission, she visibly relaxed. Though Maeve could tell she was still expecting some fire-y retribution from the way her knees shook.

“Her Majesty wished for me to give this to you,” she said, her voice surprisingly steady for all the trembling. “It’s a gift from her personal armory.”

Maeve unfurled from her position on the ground, and stood. Her eyebrows furrowed at the mention of Leia’s armory. Was the queen going to give her a sword to wear at her hip like Kylo and Luke? Maeve’s cheek twitched, what a statement that would make.

“Well,” Maeve wiped her hands against her pants. “Let’s see what you’ve brought.”

The handmaiden opened the box, and Maeve couldn’t help but laugh. She picked up the note sat on top of the dress. Leia’s curved handwriting stood out on the cream colored parchment.

_ If you’re going to give them Hell, you might as well do it dressed the part. _

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ _ LO _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uh oh, what's going to happen at the dinner? Will Maeve punch Hux? I sure hope so.  
> Thanks for Reading!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Got a long one for you this time. Let's call it a New Year gift.  
> Also, just a reminder that is an unbeta'd fan work. If there's problems it's all me. Can't catch 'em all.  
> Thanks for reading guys, I really appreciate it. And to all of you that have left kudos <3

Maeve pulled the dress out of the box. It unraveled like a curtain, revealing a dark black material that would pool around Maeve’s feet when worn. The dress itself gave off the impression of being made from leather or elephant skin, though it was soft to the touch. Maeve held it up to her own body, and turned towards the full-length mirror in the corner of the room. She was not one to be giddy about fashion, but that didn’t stop Maeve from marveling at the intricate details of the bodice. 

She’d worn finery before, almost all of it hand-me-downs from either her mother or Leia, but this trumped them all. The dress was sleeveless, with a cape that draped forward to cover one’s arms like a blanket. Maeve dragged her fingers down the edge of the cape. It would cover the red marks along her arms perfectly. Her acne coming back with a vengeance since Spring started last month. 

The cape was the canvas for the most thrilling aspects of the dress. The shoulders decorated with flat fabric sculpted dragons. Their heads would lean on Maeve’s shoulders. The dragon’s tails curved around the back to wind together as if holding hands. Two red beads adorned the eyes of each beast. 

Maeve giggled as she ran her fingers over the head of each dragon. They reminded her of the hours she spent as a child sitting on her Mother’s lap in the study, listening to the stories of her people. Dragons were often symbolized as the heralds of the future. One dragon was peace, the other war. One summer, and one winter. The beasts capable of both destruction and life. When one dragon burnt through a town or an army, the other would follow, freezing it for the spring to come. They represented balance in a world that never seemed to fight fair. To Maeve, they meant so much more now that she had twins of her own. Depending on the day, Padme and Anne seemed more like these dragons than little girls. 

There would be no hiding Maeve’s heritage in this dress. The pair of dragons known worldwide as the symbol of Maridun. It was a statement for both Maeve, and the senators waiting for them downstairs. Leia would not sell out Maridun. She would not forget her promises to Maeve’s family. Though, Leia must have had this dress in her arsenal for quite some time, just waiting for shit to really hit the fan. 

“It’s very…pretty, Ma’am,” the handmaiden said.

“I don’t think it’s meant to be pretty,” Maeve replied. Her fingers followed the swirls of beads along the edge of the cape. They shaped like flames, and in certain lights would flicker like fire as well. “Leia’s just given me a bit of home to cling to tonight. But, Oh, I’m sorry, I’ve forgotten...Well actually I didn’t ask did I... I’m sorry, but what’s your name?”

“Shelisia, Ma’am, and it’s quite alright.”

“Thank you for bringing this to me, Shelisia. Would you mind staying to help me get into it? I’m not quite sure I could do it on my own.”

“It would be a pleasure, Ma’am.”

Maeve swiveled her head to garner Shelisia’s attention. “Call me Maeve, please. With this dress, I don’t think there will be anything too Lady-like about me tonight.”

“No,” Shelisia took in the full form of the dress. “No, I think you’re right about that…Maeve. It will be a marvel to walk in, let alone look at.” 

Putting it on was a ritual. Shelisia had to climb onto the bed to get it over Maeve’s head. The material whispered and tugged against Maeve’s skin. The corset built into it squishing most of her organs together, but Maeve didn’t mind not being able to breathe for one night. Halfway through her dressing, Maeve’s personal handmaiden, Reina, entered the room. A circular box in her hand. She opened the box and Maeve nodded. Inside was her preferred crown; the small silver circle adorned with tear drops of moss agate. 

“How do you want it?” Reina asked.

“Sparkly, sparkly, sparkly,” Maeve replied. “Thank you for grabbing it for me, Reina. How are the girls?”

“They’re out back playing with Her Majesty’s dogs.”

“Oh, how fun. That’ll keep them from thinking about the cats.”

Reina smiled and took the crown out of the box, and tended to it while Maeve prepared for the night. Maeve did not put on any other jewelry besides the silver crown Reina wove into her hair. The rest of it fell in natural waves down her front. Minimal makeup on her face. One could still see the constellation of freckles on her cheeks, forehead and nose. The look completed with a blush shade of lipstick.

“Simple,” Shelisia said. “But powerful.”

“Very you.” Reina agreed.

“The most  _ Me _ would be a pair of riding pants and a braid, but this will do.” Maeve closed the tube of lipstick, and set her hands on her hips. “Well, I think this is as good as it’s going to get. Thank you, both of you.”

The handmaid's curtsied.

Maeve walked out of her personal bedroom as if nothing was different. The train trailed after her for a few feet. A snap hidden at the waist of her gown where Maeve could pull some of the train up when needed. She had to bite down on her lower lip to keep the shit eating grin from spreading across her face when she entered their shared room. If there was one thing Kylo Ren loved it was seeing his wife dressed up like royalty, and even more so: in all black. It did something for him Maeve could never replicate in any other actions nor dress.

She watched Kylo turn. His eyes roved over her, and her skin prickled beneath the thick layer of the dress. Just as she’d expected, Kylo’s eyes widened and his lips curled back to reveal a toothy smile. What she hadn’t expected was his near-violent reaction. Kylo was feral as he stepped towards her, hunched over like a gorilla.

“Leave.” 

When the handmaidens did not immediately disappear, he turned on them like a wolf protecting his territory. 

“Now.”

He just about roared the word, and Maeve moved to reprimand him, but instead of fury in his eyes Maeve was overwhelmed by the intensity with which he stared at her. Her body locked into place as if Kylo had the ability to freeze her with a single look. A shiver worked its way down her spine vertebrae by vertebrae, heating her blood like melted chocolate on a stove. All steam and smooth and delicious. 

“Well,” she said. “That’s one way to boost a girl’s confidence.”

Kylo blinked, then stormed forward as If just broken from a spell. Maeve’s spell. The one she had been weaving into his soul since the first moment he saw her. Back then she was just a scrappy little girl who didn’t care that Kylo was a Prince, nor what that title meant. She was the first stranger Kylo had ever met that hadn’t shied away from him, nor let him get anyway with anything just because he was royalty. The first time he’d tried to kiss her before beginning their courtship, Maeve had punched him square in the nose. Kylo brought his hand to his face then, expecting to feel the sting of the impact now, almost 10 years later.

“Nose bleed?” Maeve asked, that smile she had been hiding appeared in full force. Her shoulders shook as she laughed at her own joke.

“You look...” Kylo paused.

“Me?” Maeve glided up to Kylo, and molded herself against his form. “Do I look beautiful? Elegant? A bit terrifying?”

“Yes. All that and...more.”

Kylo shook out his hair like a dog after it came in from the rain. When he didn’t continue to speak, Maeve poked at his chest. He was wearing one of her favorite tuxedos tonight. A silver trim along the lapels. It cut perfectly to his square build. Those strong shoulders of his tensed beneath the dance of her fingertips. Maeve sighed, and leaned into Kylo, let him consume her.

They came together in a surprisingly gentle embrace. Kylo’s hand curved around Maeve’s head to hold her in place whilst his lips moved against hers. Their touch fleeting. Maeve tried to push it further, even going as far as stumbling up onto her tippy toes but Kylo held her still. His grasp not tight enough to keep Maeve from nipping at his lower lip. The sharp inhale from Kylo all it took for Maeve’s heart to flutter in her chest. Her lips curved into a smile when Kylo’s fingers dug further into her hair. But still he did not deepen the kiss. It so sickening sweet and gentle and not at all like Kylo. Maeve gave up and thudded back down onto her heels. 

“Are you alright?” She asked. 

Kylo fell to his knees. The sound of him hitting the hardwood flooring like that of a hammer striking iron. Maeve flinched at the impact. That would leave a bruise or two. 

“You’ve seen me in a dress before, Kylo.” She knew he had a flair for the dramatic, but this was a bit much even for him. 

“Not like this.” 

Kylo looked up at her through his eye lashes. He looked so pretty knelt before her, supplicant. Maeve traced a finger down his cheek, and pulled at the small patch of hair he’d grown around his chin. 

“I like this,” she said, tugging a little harder on the hair. “I’m not sure I’ve told you just how much I like it.”

Kylo moved his hands around Maeve’s hips to rest on the swell of her bum, both pulling her closer and steadying himself. His forehead fell forward to lean on her pelvis. The act felt more intimate than any other since he’d returned. His body language no longer guarded. His grief on full display for her. A sad Kylo was not one Maeve knew well. Angry? Yes. Overly confident? Yes. Arrogant and unstable she could deal with, sad was new.

Maeve dug her fingers into Kylo’s hair. She pulled gently at the roots, massaging Kylo’s scalp as he knelt prostrated before her. In all their time together, they had never been tested as a couple like this. Kylo had never hurt her so completely, so deftly. The trust they had built up over the years shattered. Maeve wound her fingers into a fist around Kylo’s hair and yanked. The action had the desired effect, and Kylo moved back enough to look up at Maeve. His eyes ringed in red, the veins swimming in his scleras waiting for him to submit to the emotion pulling at his cheeks.

Maeve picked up the sides of her dress, and lowered herself to the ground. She placed her hands on either side of Kylo’s face. His skin dewy beneath her palms. Those freckles and moles she loved so much even more pronounced than usual. His awkward features heightened in his emotional state. Maeve watched as his eyes closed and a shuttered breath escaped his parted lips. What was going on in that brain of his?

“Talk to me,” she pleaded. “All this silence is killing me.”

“I’m sorry.” Kylo’s voice just a croak.

“I’m here,” she said, reassuring both of them. “I’m here. Please. I promise I won’t get mad.”

“That is one promise I do not expect you to keep,” he said. “Earlier, you looked to me when Mother informed you about Hux’s promotion. I said nothing because I was...afraid. I knew about Hux’s new position before Mother told you. I heard the Prime Minister tell her earlier in the day, and I went to the stables to tell you, but seeing you with Dameron...”

“You got angry and forgot.” Maeve finished for him.

“Yes.”

Kylo stared at Maeve. His eyes roved over her features. They scrunched together in disdain. Her nose malformed the most. She hadn’t helped in that situation either, seducing Kylo instead of talking with him. They never were good at communication, not when it came to things that would cause the other pain.

“Are you angry?”

“A little bit.” Maeve said. “I wish you would have told me.”

“I didn’t want to upset you.”

Maeve laughed. It was a forced sound compared to her normal joy. “Well, that didn’t work did it?”

Kylo’s head fell forward, and would have collided with Maeve’s if it hadn’t been for her quick reaction. She tried to pull him back, to bring him back to her, but Kylo wouldn’t budge. She couldn’t even bother to be upset by it. This was new ground for them, and every step felt like walking barefoot on shards of glass. At least he was telling her now.

“Come on,” she said at last when it was evident that Kylo wasn’t going to say anything else. “What’s done is done. Now, we’re going to be late, and I’d rather get this all over with.”

Kylo stood slowly. Once on his feet, he held out his hand to hoist Maeve upwards. The edges of her dress caught on the slits in the wood flooring, but after some careful maneuvering they both stood face to face in the sitting room. The air between them so tense Maeve was afraid to breathe. She could tell there was something else Kylo’s heart ached to tell her, perhaps the truth about Hux and his Uncle, but something else was keeping him from saying it. She wanted to shake him, to scream at him until Kylo finally told her everything, but she didn’t. Best not to push him. At least he’d admitted to knowing about Hux’s new position. It was a step, albeit small one, but a step nonetheless.

Kylo ran the back of his hand down the edge of Maeve’s cheek. The caress so gentle, as if he was afraid to break her. As if she was made of the same ceramics as their daughter’s dolls. But, Maeve was not fragile. She would not break like glass. Her bones made of fire and spite. Still, she leaned into his touch. It a comfort to her even when they felt so far apart.

“You look beautiful,” he said at last, reverential. “Ethereal. My own Goddess to worship.”

“You’re acting very strange.”

“How?” Kylo’s thumb brushed against Maeve’s lips. 

“I don’t remember you ever being so struck before. It’s...strange.”

“You do this to me. Only and always you.”

“Alright, Romeo,” Maeve said. “Let’s go before you build a shrine in the bathroom.” She pulled at the edge of her cape, the thought of the group waiting for them a few floors below gave her itchy fingers. “I’m sure Hux is foaming at the mouth to corner us in the ballroom.”

“If Hux so much as looks at you the wrong way tonight I’ll have him thrown in the dungeons.” Kylo said. 

“I didn’t know we had dungeons.”

“Mother doesn’t like to talk about them.”

A joke. Kylo’s lips curled halfway into a smirk or a smile.  Sometimes it was hard to tell between the two. Though, the intentions behind the words were real. Hux would not get away without a scratch tonight. It all just depended on timing as to who hit him first. 

“Ah.” Maeve’s spirits lifted, just an inch, but enough for her anger with Kylo to subside. 

Kylo just ran his thumb back over Maeve’s bottom lip. It rose beneath his touch. Her teeth scraped against the pad of his thumb. An inciting bite. The widening of his eyes indication enough that he’d received her message. 

When Maeve expected him to break and throw her over his shoulder and hide away with her in his room for the rest of the evening, he pulled back instead. A dazed fog clouding his dark eyes. A small part of her was disappointed. 

“Come on,” Maeve said. “Your Mother will kill us if we don’t go now.”

Kylo blinked, and the intensity of his gaze dissipated. “Yes, the circus awaits.”

Kylo guided Maeve down the stairs. The railings gilded in vines and roses. A photographer at the bottom setting up his camera for the official portrait the group would take later tonight to commemorate the occasion. As they were going down Han was running up, taking the stairs two at a time. He still dressed in normal clothes, no doubt just returning from his trip with Chewie. His face blotchy and red as if he’d been running since they’d pulled into the garage.

“I know,” Han said when he passed them. “I’m late and Leia is going to have my ass.”

Maeve turned to watch Han sprint up the rest of the staircase, her fingers gripped at the wooden railing to keep herself steady while she laughed. Even Kylo chuckling softly beside her. Leia would have Han’s ass indeed.

They meandered down the main hallway on the first floor. The candlelight guiding them towards the celebration. Maeve closed her eyes during these last few moments of peace. Her breath stabled and her heart beat slowed. She opened them again when Kylo tapped her elbow. She looked at his face, the candlelight bouncing off the tip of his crooked nose, and gave him the best smile she could muster. 

“Together,” he said. “Chin up.”

“Together,” Maeve repeated. 

Kylo took one of her hands, and placed it within the crook of his arm. The other he lifted to his mouth and kissed, then opened the door.

In a matter of hours, the main hall had been transformed from an antique holding area, to a glittering, modern ballroom. The chandeliers twinkled above like shooting stars moving within the confines of the Palace. Their light falling onto the room like cherry blossoms floating through air of the back gardens.

Music swelled from the band stationed in the back of the room, it purely instrumental for now. A dance floor constructed before them, where guests mingled and drank. Kylo tucked Maeve closer to his body, and joined the fray. 

All attention fell onto the young couple as they entered the room. For instead of the heir to Alderaan and his consort entering the room, tonight it was The warrior Queen of Maridun and her Prince. Maeve raised her chin just a bit as all eyes fell on them. Her cheeks flushed with uncertainty. Beside her, Kylo glowed in his own way. The tendrils of shadows from the corners of the room seeking him out. His pale face glowed in the resplendence. 

Maeve plucked a flute of champagne from a passing server. She took small sips from it as she and Kylo moved from group to group. Kylo charming each couple they encountered as if he knew them intimately. An easy smile spread his large mouth. It was times like this when Maeve saw the similarities between Kylo and Han. The two men could charm a brick wall if given enough time.

She simply nodded and laughed from Kylo’s side, when appropriate. A few names she could recall, such as the Prime Minister’s, and a few of Leia’s cousins. They welcomed Kylo back to the Palace without glancing too sympathetically at Maeve. No doubt most of them knew the truth.

“Doing alright?” Kylo leaned down to whisper in Maeve’s ear. “You’re stiff.”

Maeve nodded, and attempted to unruffle her shoulders. They did feel as if they’d risen higher and higher towards her ears in the past hour. The tips of the dragon’s heads poking into her neck. 

Kylo squeezed Maeve’s hip, and continued throughout the ballroom. They could see Leia and Luke surrounded by guests at the edge of the dance floor. Han still not amongst them. Maeve made eye contact with Leia, whose crown matched hers—the more mature version—and raised her flute. Leia mirrored the gesture, then turned back to her brother, but not before gesturing with her head to the back of the room. Maeve’s lips strained against the glass she held before her face, hiding the grimace.

Standing in the back right hand corner was Armitage Hux. The parting of his hair affixed into a sharp right angle. The ginger coloring shone bright like a spotlight. A few other sharply dressed men stood around Hux, talking animatedly. Hux’s mouth set into a sharp line. Maeve took a sip from her champagne, let the bubbles dull the heat roaring in her veins. At least he looked how she felt. 

“You‘re glowing tonight Ma’am,” A female voice said. Her tone only slightly degrading, as if Maeve’s dress had been worn just to attack her. “Wherever did you find such a dress?”

“The Queen had it made for me,” Maeve said. “She wore a similar version during the war.”

The woman’s face pinched together. “How very generous of her.”

“I’ll be sure to pass on your kind words.”

Maeve looked to the woman who had addressed her, she attached to the side of one of the senators talking Kylo’s ear off. Her long, painted nails tapped against the senator’s arm. Maeve could not remember her name. The woman smiled back at Maeve. She seemed kind enough, but nothing about her seemed genuine. Her true thoughts rang out in her eyes, rather than her words.

“How have you been spending your time this season?” the woman asked. “The weather in the capital has been frightful. Summer can’t come fast enough.”

“I don’t mind the cold, but hopefully spring will last longer than last year. I spend most of my day riding in the back gardens. Thankfully the Queen is as fond of horses as I am.” 

There was nothing else for her to do anyway. What did the Palace need with another consort? What work was there here for Maeve? What else was there to do for Maeve but wait for Kylo or the girls to need her.

“Do you ride together, you and the Prince? I’m sure you’d make an even more handsome couple sat upon such fine stead’s as those that live in the Queen’s royal stable.”

Maeve glanced at Kylo out of the side of her eye. He caught the motion and smiled lightly just for her. Maeve turned back to the woman. “No. Kylo hates riding. He prefers cars or airplanes, horrendous things.”

“Ah, how unfortunate.”

“Mhhmm.”

And that was that. The two men continued their conversation, and at some point the woman left. Maeve couldn’t bother herself to care. This was all a farce anyway, a way for Leia to keep an eye on her government without the pomp and circumstance of Parliament sessions. Here secrets were spilled between courses, and in back corners where one thought they were safe.

“Ah, here comes the Duke of Tatooine. It’s so wonderful to see him back in court,” said one of the senators.

“Yes,” Maeve agreed, before Kylo could speak. The senator startled at the sound of her voice. “It is nice to have him back.”

Maeve glanced over her shoulder and smiled as Luke sidled up to the couple. Their savior. His hand wrapped around Maeve’s arm, and pulled her back just an inch. The movement caused Kylo to flinch beside her. The smile perfectly crafted on his lips did not falter as Luke drew the attention away from the Prince and to himself. The Senators that had been previously pawing at Kylo as if he was a prized stallion, turned on Luke the moment he opened his mouth.

“Apologies Senators, Nephew,” Luke said. He nodded to Kylo. “May I steal away The Duchess for a dance? It’s been ages since we’ve had a good jog around the dance floor.”

“Oh, oh of course,” the senator closest to the couple said. 

“Oh, how nice,” said another.

Kylo simply nodded. His fingers brushed against Maeve’s waist. The touch imparted more meaning than the kiss he pressed to her cheek. She didn’t want to leave him either, but she would much rather be on the dance floor than surrounded by strangers who just stared at her in slight disbelief as to why she was even here. At least Luke would talk to her.

Maeve’s nose wrinkled as the others rushed to consent, and before she could blink again she was pulled out of the conversation. She could feel Kylo’s gaze scorch her skin. He left behind to the vultures. Maeve’s arm tucked between Luke’s. Her palm rested on his forearm, the metal one. It cold even through the layers of his tuxedo. He’d lost the original during the war. 

“A dance?” She asked. “What do I owe the pleasure, Uncle?”

“We need to talk.”

“Couldn’t this wait? It’s a bit crowded in here.”

“No.” 

Luke took the lead for the first dance, a waltz. Maeve let him slide them across the floor. Her eyes caught on the guests who watched them from the edges of the dance floor, and schooled her features into one that was far more carefree than she felt. Though with all those eyes on her, she felt more like a monkey trapped within a cage. Their gazes goading her on to continue this elaborate performance. Luke tapped her elbow, and Maeve moved her attention from the crowd to his face. A similar smile etched across his elegant features. His skin far more tanned than Maeve remembered. 

“You look beautiful tonight. Leia’s outdone herself,” Luke said.

“Thank you. I figured you’d recognize it. I think the dragons were a nice touch, very simple.”

Luke chuckled. “Yes, simple, that’s what they are. Not what I suspect many others in this room would call them.”

“No, I think not.”

Luke pulled Maeve closer. His hand braced against her back to keep them instep and from running into other couples. The smile on his lips curved downward when he spoke again.

“Leia told me where Ben went for those eight months,” he said. His voice barely registered in her ears from how low it was. “I’m sorry.”

“I assume everyone knows where he went by now.” Maeve said. Her voice had more bite to it than she’d meant. “I’m sure Hux is crooning about it to anyone who will listen.”

“Yes, but I understand what it means.”

Maeve’s cheek twitched. Of course, Luke would understand, he’d left too. “I’m sure.” 

“Are you angry with me?” 

“Yes, no, I’m sorry. Please continue,” Maeve paused. She wasn’t angry with Luke, not about this. “I always feel on edge at these sorts of things.”

“As do I.”

“You don’t show it.” 

Maeve dipped forward to avoid a collision with a Senator and his wife. Then laughed when the Senator made a quip about something. She couldn’t hear him anyway. They disappeared and so did the joy from Maeve’s face. It wiped away as quickly as a blade across a windshield in pouring rain.

Luke’s hand flexed against the fat of Maeve’s back. “I understand what it means to  _ you _ that Kylo was with Hux all that time, but I can promise you there has been no activity from Snoke nor Hux regarding the assimilation of Maridun back into Alderaan’s commonwealth.”

“Can you really?”

“Maeve,” Luke said. From the sincerity in his tone, Maeve couldn’t help but relax just the tiniest bit. “I’ve had that house under surveillance for years. Several of my own Knights have lived amongst them under the guise of workers and servants. Snoke is an old man now, barely capable of walking, and Hux is more focused with spending money than acquiring land.”

“And their business with Kylo?” Maeve asked. “If what you say is true, what did they need from him?”

“I assume they hoped to show Ben their loyalty to the crown, in efforts to win entrance back into proper society. While that has worked to an extant, I’d say they didn’t completely persuade Ben, hmm?” Luke chuckled. 

“You assume or you know?”

“I believe that my nephew is an idiot, but not enough of one to get caught in a scheme with Armitage Hux and Leonard Snoke.”

Maeve remembered the way Kylo had just about throttled Hux in the middle of the club last night and smiled. No, she figured, Kylo wouldn’t survive a scheme with Hux at his side. She knew nothing about Snoke though. He would still need to be looked in to.

“As for Ben running from this place,” Luke said. “This life of grandeur and thanklessness is suffocating. While I don’t condone his leaving, I understand.”

“So, do I,” Maeve hissed. “And yet unlike you two I’ve managed to stay put. To put the needs of others before myself.”

“Give him time.”

Maeve bit her tongue to keep the scathing heat from escaping her mouth. Kylo didn’t need time, he just needed to stay, with her. To talk to her, to tell her what he wanted, and she would follow as far as she could. He needed to stop running from all his problems and face them head on.

“And you’re sure about Hux and Snoke?”

“I wouldn’t vouch for them if I wasn’t,” Luke said. “It doesn’t mean I trust them, but I do know that they aren’t part of this rebellion, nor any other.”

Maeve’s nose twitched. Her gut said otherwise. Once a traitor always a traitor. “Why are you really telling me this?”

“We may not get along, but Ben is family, and I care about him...about both of you.”

Maeve didn’t believe that one bit. Luke didn’t trust Kylo. She’d known that for years. Luke couldn’t even call Kylo by his preferred name. There would be some ulterior motive to all of this. She looked around Luke’s shoulder and found exactly who she’d expected to be there watching them: Leia. The light from the chandeliers shining down on Leia like a halo. The Divine Queen of Alderaan. The Divine Meddler as well.

“So, you told Leia about your spies in Snoke’s house and she forced you to tell me, knowing I would trust what you had to say.” Maeve blinked up at Luke. “Am I Right?”

“What I said about Hux and Snoke is true,” Luke said. “I may not trust them completely, but they’re not fools. Revolution is not to be taken lightly. But this is all a game, Maeve. I warned you.”

“And yet you play it so well.”

“I wish I didn’t have to.” 

Luke squeezed Maeve’s fingers, and she returned the gesture. Her lips folded into a small smile. Neither of them were meant for this sort of life, and yet here they were stuck in the middle of it.

“Me too.”

The dance ended. Maeve curtsied before Luke and watched as he swept back into the crowd. The ring of his voice echoed in her ears. While she was glad to hear that Hux and Snoke weren’t as horrible as she had assumed, it still didn’t settle her nerves, not completely. They were up to something, and no matter what their plan was Maeve did not want them to succeed. Call it selfish, but she wanted to watch their whole world burn around them. 

As for Kylo, she wasn’t sure what to do just yet. But Luke wouldn’t vouch for Kylo unless he thought it necessary. Their tumultuous relationship had already tried to break Maeve and Kylo apart once. She assumed Luke was not brazen enough to try that again. 

For a brief second Maeve’s thoughts were transported back to last night. To Kylo standing before her and declaring his wish to abdicate throne. Perhaps Snoke was the one who put that idea into his head, but that thought didn't last long. She pushed it to the back of her mind. Now was not the time to worry about abdication nor Snoke. Not when Hux was the one right before her. 

Maeve turned to find Leia standing behind her. When the Queen noticed the look in Maeve’s eyes, the uncertainty threatening to suffocate her in this room full of strangers, she surged forward. Graceful even when rushing through a crowd to catch her falling daughter-in-law.

“You look pale,” Leia said. Her arm wrapped around Maeve’s shoulder, moving them back into the crowd. That smile still tight on her face as the guests parted around them. “Did Luke tell you about our friends up North?”

“Yes.”

“What he says is true.”

“I understand…”

“I’m not saying you must forgive, but at least now we know the truth. What’s important is that we stand together from here on out.”

Maeve cringed. The truth. There was no truth in this world. She could feel it in her gut. Everything was a gilded lie. A lie she’d accepted into her life along with Kylo when she’d agreed to marry him.

“Give him a chance to change. To prove himself. I’ve talked with Ben, he’s told me—”

“Why should I?” Maeve broke out of Leia’s grasp. So she was the only one Kylo had problems talking to. She tried to keep her voice down, but the fear inside her was enough to blast a hole in the crystal ceiling. “He left, not me. He won’t tell  _ me _ the truth. Why should I have to give anything?”

The smile on Leia’s face faltered for just a second, long enough for Maeve to see the true emotion behind Leia’s mask. The hurt, the sorrow, the regret. Maeve hunched forward, the anger seeped out of her body with each exhale of her breath. Leia meant well. Who wouldn’t want her children to be happy? It was not Leia’s fault Kylo refused to tell Maeve the truth. 

Maeve closed her eyes for half a beat, thought of her childhood home and the hills she ached to roll down once again, then straightened her back, readjusted the strap of her dress, and opened her eyes. There was a crowd gathered around the two of them. They at least tried to look as if they hadn’t heard their whole conversation, but Maeve knew better than to believe that. She folded her arms across her midsection.

“Thank you for the advice,” she said. “I think I’m feeling a bit woozy from all the spinning.”

“Perhaps fresh air would do you some good.”

“Yes, I think so.”

Maeve curtsied before Leia. She did not turn her back on the Queen until she was far enough away, as per protocol. Then Maeve took the edges of her dress into her hands, balled the material between her fists, and escaped the room. 

She threw open one of the doors out to the balconies and stumbled into the crisp, Spring air. Another person was standing out in the cold too. They spun around as Maeve walked up to the edge. The sun set behind them, so the stranger’s face was hidden by the shadows of the Palace, though it seemed as if they had been out here for quite some time.

“Sorry to bother,” Maeve said. “It was getting a bit stuffy in there.”

“Agreed.”

“I hope I’m not disturbing you.”

The other person turned and Maeve caught the side of their face. Their hair tied back into a strange style. Their figure cut in a simple suit. Maeve did not recognize them. They did not look like one of the guests, nor Palace security, but they stood more like the latter. Their arms pulled behind their back.

“Not at all, Ma’am.”

“Ah, so you do know who I am?”

“Of course,” they said. Their voice feminine but also rough. “It’s hard not to when your face and the Prince’s is on the front page of every newspaper and magazine.”

“Yes, well,” Maeve paused. “It’s not my choice.”

“No, you don’t seem like one to parade around in front of cameras.”

They turned around to face the door, and Maeve caught the edge of their cheekbones in the light; as well as the twinkle in their dark eyes as they regarded Maeve. Maybe she should have been afraid of this stranger, but nothing about them seemed frightening. 

“It was a pleasure speaking with you, Ma’am.”

“You as well,” said Maeve.

It was only when they disappeared back into the room that Maeve realized she’d forgotten to ask for the stranger’s name. She slumped back onto the balcony. What a night, she thought. And that was the last of it. 

The door swung open again. Part of Maeve had hoped it was the stranger coming back with a stiff drink for her, but instead it was Armitage Hux. Maeve folded her arms across her chest. At least he had brought Maeve a drink. Whiskey from the color of it. He held the glass out infront of him, angled towards Maeve. He jingled it a bit when Maeve didn’t immediately move to take it.

“I saw you run off from the Queen. I brought a Peace offering,” he said. “I promise I haven’t poisoned it.”

“That’s reassuring.”

Hux jingled the glass again. With a sigh, Maeve took the offering, but did not drink it. Instead she pulled it close to her chest, cradling it against her breasts. She didn’t want alcohol to influence anything she said in what would be another battle from the way Hux stood before her. His left hand folded behind his back. Eyes focused on hers, looking for something. The silence cut through her worse than the cold.

“What can I help you with, Lord Hux?” Maeve asked. 

“I came to apologize.”

Maeve’s eyebrows raised. She’d expected anything but this. “Really?”

“I was extraordinarily rude to you last night, and for that I am sorry, Ma’am. I let my past...judgements influence me in a way that was neither respectful nor professional”

“Mhhmmm.”  _ Screw it _ . Maeve took a sip of the whiskey. It soured her tongue enough to keep her from really digging into Hux. “What a pretty speech. And who forced you to do this? Kylo? The Prime Minister? Your Uncle?”

“We will be seeing a lot of each other now that I’ve taken over my Uncle’s position.”

“Since you’ve been  _ given _ your Uncle’s position, you mean. You weren’t elected. No one voted for you.”

Hux’s lips pursed. “Be that as it may, we will be seeing each other quite often now. I’d rather put the animosity between us in the past. So We can work together for a brighter future for Alderaan.”

“You may do as you wish, Sir.”

“Are you not even willing to pursue peace? Is that not what Her Majesty has pledged her household towards?”

Maeve’s grip tightened around the glass. Peace was only capable when both sides could be trusted. Maeve trusted Hux as much as she trusted her daughters not to sneak sweets before dinner, perhaps even less. The girls had self control, Hux was a parasite who couldn’t help but dig his way deeper into any sort of wound, and from what Luke told had told earlier, this country was bleeding in several different places. 

“Well?” Hux pursued.

“I’ll make peace with you in Hell.” Maeve said. Leia would be angry with her for quarreling, but screw it. Now was not the time for pussy-footing.

“How mature,” Hux said. His voice as pinched as his lips. “I’d assumed better from you.”

“I’m not The Queen. I don’t have to pretend to like you, or anyone.” Maeve pulled her cape tighter around her front. “If you wish to enjoy the rest of your night, stay the Hell away from me--and Kylo.”

She set her glass down on the balcony, then pushed her way past Hux and back into the ballroom. Her shoulder slammed into his. From the hiss that escaped his mouth, she knew the sharp edges of the dragons had found their mark. 

“You’ll change your mind,” Hux called after her. “You can’t ignore me, nor my influence.”

“From where I stand, Hux, the only one with influence is me. As you stated so kindly last night, I’ve slept my way to the very top of the chain here in Alderaan, and I don’t plan to let that sort of leverage slip through my fingers.” Maeve shoved the door open, but paused just before she stepped through. “Tell your Uncle I say hello. I hear he’s been feeling unwell. What a pity.”

Maeve curtsied just inside the door, then slammed it shut in front of her. If the lock clicked into place then that was caused by the force of the door slipping back into the frame, not Maeve’s own nimble fingers. She moved back into the crowd. The music roared around her, as well as hundreds of voices all talking animatedly due to the amount of alcohol within each of the well-crafted cocktails. A secret smile twisted at the edge of her lips. No one would hear Hux knocking for quite some time. By then, she would be far enough away that only the Queen would know what had transpired, and Maeve was quite fine with that.

She found Kylo standing next to Han at one of the many bars. The two silent when Maeve approached. Kylo’s hand found her waist within seconds. His fingers dug into her hips and pulled her against him. The heat radiating off him slowly warming her back up. She took Kylo’s half empty cocktail and sipped it before handing it back. Her nose twisted as the vodka spread across her tongue.

“We were wondering where you ran off to,” Han said. “The kid here was just about to send a search party.”

Maeve squeezed Kylo’s side. “I just needed some air.”

“Don’t blame you. It’s a bit hot in here tonight. Too many big mouths in the same room, eh?”

“I wonder who’s is the biggest,” Kylo said. He lifted his glass in a salute towards Han, and then swept Maeve to the back of the room

Maeve was just glad Kylo was speaking to his father. One day they would be able to be in the same without arguing, or biting at one another. Leia would fix it.

“Were you alone outside?” Kylo asked. His lips at her ears. 

Maeve shook her head. “Hux found me.” 

“I didn’t see him come back in.”

“He might be out there for awhile.”

Kylo shook against her. Maeve looked up and saw the laughter in his eyes. The light from the chandeliers causing them to be even more brilliant. 

“You didn’t hurt him too badly, I hope?”

“Just his ego.” Maeve said. “That and I locked the door.”

“That’s a bit of a fire hazard.”

Maeve just shrugged her shoulders. If there was a fire he could climb down the vines to the gardens. 

“How much longer do we need to stay?” Maeve asked.

“Mother’s about to do her speech, then I’m sure we can disappear.”

Maeve pulled herself closer to Kylo. It would be nice to sit in their rooms tonight with a fire going in the fireplace for once. A nice cup of hot cocoa, or scotch to warm her from the inside out. Maybe Kylo would massage her feet if she asked nice enough.

Kylo moved them through the crowd. Leia, Han, and Luke stood at the back of the stage. The band still playing. The three turned around when Luke pointed out the couple. Leia’s smile warmer than it had been earlier. No doubt she noticed the levity surrounding Kylo and Maeve. Tonight was a good night, perhaps a bit dramatic and heart breaking in moments. But here now, in Kylo’s arms, it was easier for Maeve to breathe. 

Leia stepped up onto the stage. The ringing of spoons against crystal glasses stopped only by Leia raising her hands. Maeve turned around to speak to Kylo when his body slammed into hers. The room filled with screams, and ash, and flames. Her brain couldn’t even recognize the boom of the blast. The heat suffocating in a way Maeve had never known before. At bonfires, the fire had always been stifling, but this was something else. Her body swathed in humidity. Her eyes forced shut by the impact of her body against Kylo’s as he barreled them both to the ground. Maeve wheezed around his grip. The smoke forced into her lungs.

“Get up,” Kylo’s voice appeared through the smoke. “Get up.”

“Wh-What’s happened?” Maeve asked. She doubled over in a coughing fit. All thought pushed from her mind but breathing. Her throat constricting around the poison working its way into her lungs.

Kylo hefted Maeve into his arms. She felt her train rip beneath her. A warm breeze shot up her right leg. Despite her protests, Kylo just continued to move them out of the room. Another hand latched onto Maeve’s arm. She snapped her head to the right and was met with Luke’s wide eyes. Leia beside him. The Queen surrounded by black suits. 

The air cleared, and Kylo dropped Maeve to the ground. His hands running over her body. Voice agitated as he asked repeatedly if Maeve was hurt. She had to physically shove him away to get Kylo to stop. 

“I’m fine,” she said. Her voice rough.

“Where’s Han?” Leia asked. 

The guards moved to surround all four of them now. Rifles drawn at their sides. Maeve clutched at Kylo’s arm. Han Solo was not amongst them. 

“He was next to me,” Leia said. Her voice frantic. “He was next to me.”

Maeve turned to Kylo. His face set in stone.

“Kylo,” she said.

Without a word, Kylo spun on his heels and ran back towards the smoke. Maeve jolted after him, only to be stopped by a pair of arms encircling her waist. She kicked frantically at the person. Her voice hoarse as she called after her husband. His form lost to the grey and black mist drifting out from the ballroom. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Getting hot in here, right? Right?  
> Alright, I'll see myself out. Thanks for reading!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey friends, happy Sunday. Here's the next chapter. I hope you're enjoying reading this as much as I am writing it.  
> I love my dysfunctional space-family.

Dread poured into Maeve’s soul as if it had been forced down her throat by way of drowning. Kylo was gone. He’d just come back to her, and now he was _gone_. She shoved back with her elbow and slammed it into whomever was holding her. They dropped their grasp for half a second, but were able to block the other elbow she sent towards their midsection and re-wound their arms around her chest, locking her into place, and lifting her off the ground. It didn’t stop her from howling like a caged banshee.

“Let me go,” she growled.

“Maeve,” they said. “Maeve, stop fighting. He’ll be fine. I sent five others after him. They’ll keep him safe. It’s okay.”

Maeve tilted her head to get a good look at her captor. Her heart settled the moment she caught a glimpse of the black curls on their head. The red lapel of the Royal guard uniform below her nose. The scent of hay and soap filled her dusty lungs.

“Poe,” she said.

Her body relaxed, and Poe Dameron took a step back, one of his hands curled around her upper arm. Not quite ready to let her go yet.

“Ma’am,” Poe said, addressing Leia. “We need to get you three out of here.”

“I won’t leave my home,” Leia said. “They will not force me to flee.”

“Ma’am—”

“Captain Dameron, escort us to the Gallery.” She turned to the other Guards. “One of you stay behind to tell the Prince where we’ve gone. He’ll know where to bring Han. The rest of you go help with the guests. I’m sure it’s mass panic out there.” She paused, then added, “Be safe. Keep your eyes open. This was not a careless attempt against The Crown. It was a planned attack against the stability of our country. Be vigilant, but don’t be stupid.”

Poe’s hand tightened around Maeve’s forearm. She could feel the battle waging within him, but in the end the Queen would not be disobeyed.

“Yes, Ma’am.”

Poe moved from beside Maeve to one of the female guards still standing in the room. “Lieutenant Pava, with me. The rest of you, you heard the Queen. Get to it.”

They just about ran down the side hallway to the Gallery. Maeve could hear the rest of the guests being herded out of the Palace. The scent of smoke still lingered around them. A fog rested along the edges of the walls. They passed the girl’s play room and Maeve stopped. It was empty. Toys strewn across the antique rug as if the occupants had left in a hurry. Her hand slammed against the wall to keep herself upright. Poe hesitated beside her.

“The girls?” she asked, breathless. “Where are the girls?”

“Phasma has them,” Poe answered. “She’s been with them since the party started. Normal protocol for these events. They’re safe.”

Maeve nodded, and let Poe drag her down the rest of the hall. Phasma would keep the girls safe. There was no one in the Palace she trusted more to protect the ones she loved most. Still, her heart could not reconcile with the fact that they were not with her. Kylo was not with her. They could all be taken from her and she wouldn’t know until their bodies were found, if there would be anything left of them.

“Maeve,” Leia’s voice broke through the panic.

Maeve blinked, and the Queen’s face came into view. Those dark eyes of hers hard as she regarded Maeve. Maeve’s throat constricted as her knees wobbled beneath the stress and dread threatening to drown her in this very hallway. Leia was used to this, Maeve was not.

“Deep breaths. We will be fine. The girls will be fine. Ben and Han will be fine. Keep moving.” Leia took Maeve’s face between her gloved hands. Maeve tried to move her head, but found Leia’s grip unrelenting. “Breath in. Breath out. Move.”

Leia dropped Maeve’s face, and they ran, hand-in-hand into the gallery. Maeve using all her energy to keep her feet in time with Leia’s pace. The air inside the Gallery stale, but crisper than that outside. Leia wasted no time in opening the passageway to the War Room. She and Poe jumped in first. Maeve and the other guard behind them, with Luke behind her.

“Ma’am, not that I don’t trust you, but where are we going?” Poe asked.

“I’ve got secrets too, Poe.”

The brevity in Leia’s voice settled Maeve just a bit more. The panic that had been welling up inside of her replaced by a cool rage. The same type she saw burning in Leia’s eyes. Luke and Leia moved around the room to light the sconces. Poe frozen near the entrance. His hands balled into fists by his side. Maeve touched his arm, and Poe jumped.

“It freaked me out too,” she said. Her hand found Poe’s in the dark and squeezed. “Old ghosts.”

“This location is strictly need to know, Poe.” Leia said. The room now fully revealed to them. “We’ll likely need to use it more and more in the coming days.”

“Pava,” Poe said. He turned to the other guard in the room, a female with black hair tied back in a simple braid. “Find Captain Phasma, and have her escort the Princesses here. Check on the situation in the ballroom, then report back. Don’t stop anywhere else.”

Pava snapped to attention then darted back into the hallway. Her footsteps echoed far after she was gone. Maeve squeezed his hand again, before letting go. Her girls would be here soon, and if luck was on their side, so would Kylo.

“Do you trust her?” Leia asked.

“Pava’s new, but she’s got heart.”

“And loyalty?”

Poe leaned onto the map table. His eyes hard when he regarded the Queen again. “Any that I’ve recruited are loyal to the Crown, yes.”

“Careful, Captain.” Leia said. “There’s only one way a bomb could have gotten into the Palace. We’ll need to screen all the workers and guardians again. Luke will assist you with the questioning.”

“Couldn’t one of the guests have brought it?” Maeve asked.

“No,” Poe said. His voice like gravel scraping against a brick wall. “We had them all searched prior to entering the ballroom. No bags, no purses. It was too big of a blast to have been something concealed in a pocket or shoe.”

Leia sat down in one of the chairs around the map. Her hands folded into a steeple beneath her chin. She was the definition of calm in this moment. Maeve could see her calculating every possible move within that secretive head of hers.

“It can’t be a coincidence,” Luke piped up from his corner in the room. “I’ve returned with evidence against the revolution just in time for an attack on the Crown. That’s too good of an opportunity to be left to chance.”

“No,” Leia agreed. “Not a coincidence. Not with all of us in the same room for the first time in over a year. It was planned with precision, and knowledge of our comings and goings; our protocols for banquets.”

“I couldn’t tell the radius of the blast, but it must not have been near our side of the stage. I didn’t feel any shrapnel. Perhaps it was under one of the tables?”

“Possible,” Poe said. “I didn’t notice anything out of place, but it could have been moved in with the guests. I instructed the others to search for evidence after securing the room. I’m sure they’ll have found something by now. If we’re lucky they went to the Prince first. If not, Pava will escort them.”

“What else can we do?” Maeve asked.

“All we can do is wait.” Leia said.

She slouched further in her chair. Luke and Poe continued to discuss possible points of entry and ways to sneak a bomb into the room without anyone noticing. They had lots of theories, but no evidence, not yet.

Time moved differently in the war room, if it moved at all. No natural light. No ticking of clocks echoing in the vaulted chamber. Luke sat beside his sister at the table, their heads close together, muttering. Poe paced around the room. Patience not one of his best qualities.

Maeve leaned against one of the walls, her fingers close to her mouth while she chewed on what was left of her nails. She kept replaying every second of the night in her mind, searching for something out of place. Only one split section of time called out to her. The breeze from the balcony trickled up her spine.

“There was a person out on the balcony,” Maeve said. Her voice trancelike. The idea that the stranger had set a bomb in her home and she’d basically allowed it to happen stabbed at her. It was her fault. Her fault. How could she not think of them earlier?

“Who?” Poe stopped his pacing near her. “Which balcony?”

“I-I don’t know. They looked like a guard, but I never got their name. They were just there, then they weren’t. Hux came outside afterwards and I just…forgot.”

“What did they look like? Any particular features you remember about them?” Luke asked.

“Sounded female, but could have been male. Their hair was up in this weird set of buns.”

Maeve missed the look Luke gave Poe. She nibbled on the edges of her fingernails. Poe’s arm pressing down on her shoulder made her drop her hand. Maeve’s eyes wide like a doe who’d been caught in the scope of a hunter’s rifle.

Poe squeezed Maeve’s shoulder. “We’ll look into it.”

The echo of a door slamming shut passed into the chamber. Then, footsteps started to sound from the hallway. Leia sat up at the table. Maeve straightened against the wall, her fingers behind her back crossed in hope that it was good news.

The first person to step into the room was Kylo. Maeve’s knees wobbled under the power of relief that poured into her. In one arm he held Padme, and with the other he held Anne’s hand. Maeve forgave him for everything in that split second. Nothing else mattered but the fact that he, and the girls, were okay.

“Momma,” cried one of the girls.

The world seemed to stop in that moment. Maeve couldn’t move fast enough. Her feet tripped up by her ripped train, but she slid to her knees before Anne, who ran into Maeve’s outstretched arms. A sob ripped from Maeve’s throat. A second body slammed into her left side.

Maeve just squeezed them closer. Her nose buried in Anne’s hair, taking in deep breaths of the cotton candy soap the girls loved so much.

“I’m here,” she said. “You’re okay.”

Maeve took the chance to look up at Kylo. Her eyes watered at the sight of him. He was Alive and well, if not a bit dirty from the ash flickered across his lanky features.

“You’re an idiot,” she said to Kylo.

The malice she’d meant to inject into her tone was all but overwhelmed by joy. Kylo stood over his family. His tuxedo shirt torn at one side, bits of blood soaked into his chest. He didn’t look hurt, but panic welled up inside Maeve anyway.

“What happened?” Maeve asked. “Why are you bleeding?”

“Not my blood.”

After the words left Kylo’s mouth, another pair of individuals stumbled into the room. Phasma had one arm under Han as she just about dragged him over the threshold. Half of Han’s face coated with soot. Lines of red cut across his cheeks and forehead. His tuxedo ripped in several places, blood seeping through the white material.

“I can walk just fine,” Han said.

“You leg is broken, Sir.” Is all Phasma said.

Han continued to grumble beside her, but his words were cut off by Leia’s lips. While Phasma and Han had struggled to get into the room Leia had jumped from her chair and sprinted across the room. Maeve could see Leia’s hands trembling against Han’s battered face.

“Couldn’t help yourself, could you?” Leia asked. Her voice wet with emotion.

“You know me, Your Majesty.” Han smiled, but it quickly crumbled into a grimace. His hand pressed to his left side. “Can’t help but get into trouble.”

Leia shuffled out of their way and Phasma moved Han further into the room. Han didn’t say a word while Phasma lifted him up onto the table. The contented sigh that escaped him afterwards proof enough of how badly he was hurt.

Maeve herded the girls to the corner of the room. She sat them in separate chairs, and pushed their wild hair back from their faces. Their cheeks redder than normal. While they hadn’t cried, the girls seemed exhausted, both emotionally and physically. Maeve’s heart pulled at that.

“Do you need anything?” Maeve asked.

Padme wrapped her arms around herself. Her pajamas pulled against her small body. Thankfully, the nurses had dressed them warmly tonight.

“Are you cold?” Maeve asked.

Padme shook her head.

“Hungry?”

Another shake of her head. Agitation rose in Maeve’s throat, but she squashed it down. The girls were scared. There was no reason to be angry with them for silence.

“Can you hold us?” Anne asked. “Like when we were little babies?”

“You still are little, _my little bugs_ ,” Maeve said while she scooped the girls into her arms.

She sat against the wall while the rest of the family worked around the room. Anne curled up against one hip, and Padme the other. Their little hands reached across Maeve’s lap, so they could still be touching while they slept. Maeve was surprised by how quickly they fell asleep even with the noise in the room. She curled them beneath what was left of her cape.

Maeve looked up from the girls to see Kylo holding Han down on the table while Phasma and Luke straightened Han’s leg with a long piece of wood. They moved with practiced ease. Maeve knew Luke had done this sort of thing during the war, but Phasma’s ability to keep up with Luke surprised her. She’d never taken Phasma for a healer.

Han’s grunts and screams were muffled by the bit slid between his teeth. Leia stood near the door, with Poe stood between her and the table. One of her hands hovering over her cheek. The only part of Leia that seemed out of sorts. Maeve couldn’t make out the orders she was giving Poe, but that didn’t matter now. The girls were here. Kylo was safe. Han would be okay. They would all be okay.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short one for ya'll today. Life and work and real wip that aren't fanfiction are a higher priority. But, I still like doing this so we'll so how long that lasts. 
> 
> Thanks for Reading!

They slept in the war room that night, no one really wanting to be alone. Phasma and some of the other Guards brought in blankets and pillows for the family. Together, Maeve and Kylo constructed a nest of sorts for themselves and the girls. Kylo moving like a robot. Each action measured and controlled and completely unlike his normal self. 

After the Palace was deemed safe, they carried Han out on a stretcher. The local hospital awaiting their arrival. Not long after that, Leia left with Poe. They did not return by morning. 

Maeve was awake for most of the night. Her head leaned against Kylo’s chest. His breath lifting her up and down as if she was laying on the deck of sailboat. But instead of a salty breeze filling her lungs, it was mildew and cold. The war room becoming more like a tomb with each minute she spent inside. The candle light flickering above them like fairies dancing across cave walls. The heat from the candles not enough to warm them. Maeve’s fingers and toes hard by the time the girls and Kylo woke. 

While the threat was gone, Maeve could not help but stay alert. Her ears twitched with each scuttle and drip within the chamber. Even though it felt like he was asleep, Maeve knew Kylo was awake as well. The silence bringing them together in a strange new way. In here there was no betrayal nor heartbreak, just the girls laying at their sides. Their love manifested in each breath their daughters took.

Maeve yawned beside Kylo, whose eyes blinked open at the sound. He tapped his watch but it’d gotten out-of-wack sometime during the night. He stretched beside Maeve. Those long limbs of his no doubt sore from a night spent on the ground. Maeve had lost feeling in her tailbone hours ago. Their eyes met in the lowlight of the chamber and Kylo leaned forward and traced his thumb down Maeve’s cheek. The action simple, but it spread warmth through Maeve’s aching body. Her fingers gripped his beneath the blankets. The sun had risen. A new day begun. 

“Did you sleep?” Maeve asked him, her voice a ghost within the hall.

“No.” He squeezed her hand tighter, his head turned to look at the table where Han had laid just hours before. “I…”

“It’s okay. I know.” She would have done the same for her parents, for Kylo, for the girls. She would have rushed back in too.

“Momma?” Anne’s voice lagged with sleep. She rose from the ground, rubbing one of her eyes as she did. The other hand reached toward Maeve.

“Come on, I bet there’s a big breakfast waiting for us,” Maeve said. She picked up Anne, whilst Kylo picked up Padme. She looked to Kylo. “Then we can figure out what to do.”

The faint musk of smoke still lingered in the hallways. The small family moved through them like ghosts. Each footstep swallowed by the thick carpets. Where once they would have been people running up and down the halls there was silence. It was quiet enough that Maeve was able to distinguish Leia’s voice floating down from the private dining room. When they arrived, Leia was standing at the door, as if she’d felt their approach.

“Good, you’re awake,” Leia said. She moved forward to take Anne from Maeve’s grasp. “I just got word that Han is out of surgery, and should be home within the hour. I’ll be recording a message for the country later, so We’ll have a quick breakfast then I’ll brief you on what we know.”

Poe was sat at the table beside his husband, Finn. Finn Dameron’s face brightened as they walked into the room. His dark features stood out against the bright yellow paint of the dining hall. The sight of Finn eased the sorrow in Maeve’s heart. She rushed towards them. Her legs able to move faster than they had last night. The dress ruined. Finn stood from his chair and took the brunt of Maeve’s embrace with stride.

“It’s good to see you too,” Finn said. He pulled back enough to look Maeve up and down. “Are you alright?”

“Yes,” Maeve said, breathless. “I’m fine. We’re fine. How are you? I didn’t think I’d be seeing you for at least a few more days. Poe said—”

“I’m fine. Came as soon as I heard about the blast. Couldn’t let you and Poe have all the fun.”

Maeve pulled Finn back into her arms. He was just who she needed right now. While on paper Finn was her private secretary, in reality he was so much more. Both Finn and Maeve outsiders to Alderaanian society. She pulled back, and noticed the strange clothing Finn wore. The top and bottom mismatched as if he’d just jumped out of bed and thrown on what was closest to him.

“What do you need me to do?” Finn asked as soon as Maeve was able to let go of him.

“We’re fine,” Kylo said from behind Maeve.

He was practically leaning over her. The front of his shirt rubbing against the back of her head, using that height of his to tower over their conversation. She turned and glowered up at him.

“Thank you for asking,” Kylo added quickly.

“Of course, Sir.” Finn frowned down at Maeve. “Are you sure you don’t need anything? Im sure my temp has pushed back any of your appointments. I’m not sure what else I can pull together, but you just say the word—”

Maeve patted Finn on the side of his cheek. He could never sit still. “I’m just glad to see your face. Go take care of that husband of yours. I elbowed him pretty hard last night.”

“Nothing I can’t handle, Ma’am. Her Majesty has hit me a few times too. It’s all part of the job.” Poe piped up from where he sat. Dark circles bloomed beneath his eyes. 

Maeve placed her hand over Poe’s on the table. “You’re a good man, Poe Dameron.”

“I try.”

“Come on, sit down you three,” Leia said from the head of the table. “You’re making me anxious.”

“We’ll talk more later,” Maeve said to Finn, then pulled Kylo down the table.

Leia was fixing up a plate of toast for the girls. The fine China set out on the cluttered table. A mix-matched set compared to their normal elegance. One plate had toast with Strawberry jelly for Padme, and the second had grape for Anne. Mix those orders up and the world would end. 

Kylo poured himself a mug of coffee, while Maeve made herself a cup of tea and plucked a piece of toast from Anne’s plate. Her stomach gurgled at the sight of food. Kylo didn’t move towards anything else. Maeve raised her eyebrows at him. He was not one to skip a meal. 

“What’s new, Captain Dameron?” Kylo asked.

He’d waited longer than Maeve had expected. Poe looked up from his own cup of coffee, the steam curling around his face, and his gaze pinpointed on Leia. Maeve turned her head in time to see Leia wave him ahead.

“The device detonated in the back right-hand corner of the room. Its blast is what caused the section of the stage beneath His Majesty to collapse.”

“I saw that myself last night. From the small pieces I found scattered around the stage, I assume it was made from some sort of mismatched aluminum sheeting, but I’m sure you’ve already figured that out” Kylo said. That arrogance of his voice pulling at the corner of his lips. “What’s  _ new _ ?”

“We’ve collected the pieces of the explosive that survived, mostly just gunpowder and smoke residue. There was no shrapnel inside, besides the sheeting. A second bomb was found in the back left-hand corner, but it seems to have been a dud. We disposed of it this morning.”

“And?”

Poe sighed. He dragged his hand down his face. “There are no suspects at this time. No traces left behind from the perpetrator, not even on the dud.”

“No one?” Maeve asked. “What about the person I saw on the balcony?”

“Luke was able to identify the individual.”

“Oh.” Maeve sunk into her chair. So, it wasn’t her fault. She took a long draw from her tea. It would be Hux then. She knew it, could feel its truth ringing in her soul. Still, she bit her tongue.

“Is there anything else, Captain?” Kylo’s voice bit out each word as if it was physically difficult for him to speak. He sat up straighter in his chair.

“What are you expecting,  _ Sir _ ?” Poe asked. His tone matched Kylo’s.

“Evidence that is actually useful,  _ Captain _ .”

“Perhaps you should go look for yourself. It’s not as if my men and I have been combing through every inch of that room since the explosion detonated.”

Kylo slouched back in his chair. His mug chirped when he set it back down on the table. “I’m sure you’ve been thorough, but a new set of eyes would be good, don’t you think?”

“Boys,” Leia spoke up. “Now’s not the time to spit at one another like alley cats. Captain, perhaps Ben could help in the investigation. Luke will be busy with the interviews, and I trust Ben’s diligence. He did train with you at the academy. Might as well put the country’s money to good use, yes?”

“It would be a pleasure to have the Prince assist us in the investigation, Ma’am.”

“I’ll go now.” Kylo pushed back his chair and stood. He leaned down and Maeve felt his lips press against the top of her head. 

Maeve could only blink as he repeated the action on Leia, Anne, and Padme. By the time he made it to their youngest child, Poe was standing as well, waiting by the back entrance to the dining room. Maeve watched the two men size each other up. Kylo far more menacing due to his height, but that didn’t make Poe back down. Leia’s voice rang out before they left the room.

“Be careful.”

“Of course, Ma’am.”

“Yes, Mother.”

The door closed behind them. Maeve could just barely hear their bickering as they traveled back down the hallway. Her shoulders relaxed. At least one thing had stayed the same. She turned back to Leia. The girls munching on their toast without a care in the world. Though Maeve could tell they could comprehend some of what was happening. Their little eyes flickering between Maeve and Leia. 

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Maeve asked.

Leia hummed. “At least if they fight they won’t ruin anything.” 

“It wouldn’t be the first time,” Finn said from down the table. “Poe could use the help though, so thank you, Ma’am. He would have never asked for the Prince’s assistance.”

“I know,” Leia frowned from behind her own tea cup. “Pride is a dangerous thing in times like these.”

**Author's Note:**

> This work is un beta'd and edited only by my eyes so if there are any glaring issues, my bad. If not, then please do know it was all me and I'm perfect. 
> 
> I hope to have the next chapter out soon.
> 
> Thanks for Reading!


End file.
